Barcelona president Joan Laporta has come clean in giving his views on the current rumors surrounding the club’s intentions to signing players Erling Haaland and even Kylian Mbappe but Laporta tried to play down such talk and says the Catalans won’t “lose our heads”.
When asked specifically about the latest claim regarding interest in Mbappe, the president offered the following response:
“The sporting management are working to improve our squad. Which is getting better and better, and we are increasingly satisfied.
“I want it to be clearly understood that we put the team above all else, a team that is reinforced in each area and what we don’t want to do is to promote players or look for players who are more than the team.
“What we want to reinforce is the team we have, that plays based on a traditional Barcelona system. The club think that this is what the football team needs, this authentic style, for me, is the key to everything and this is what we have to do, a team that can play this system with very talented players.”
When queried about Haaland again, Laporta made it clear he would not talk about individual players.
“I will not talk about specific players but I can tell you that we will not do any deals that puts the club at risk,” he said. “The members can be calm because we are not going to lose our heads over an operation of this magnitude.
“Most players want to come to Barcelona, they like the club, the team, our philosophy, our way of working, of interpreting football. And this is good, we are seeing this in many cases and on a daily basis.
“They will have to adapt to Barcelona’s salary levels and to an economic structure of the deal that maintains the sustainability and balance of the club.”
Barcelona’s finances are still far from seeing daylight with a lot more to be sorted out. A sponsorship deal with Spotify has already been announced, while there’s also been talk of a deal with CVC or the possibility of the club selling off part of Barca Studios to increase income.