Workout
Meditation
Contact Us
The last few weeks have been turbulent for Barcelona, particularly for Joan Laporta and Co.
After all, the administration was unable to register Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor in time for the second half of the season after their return to the 1:1 rule was delayed by a few days.
For a brief period, it looked like both players would have to leave the club as free agents, but a drastic turn of events eventually saw the cards dealt in Laporta’s favor and the registrations were approved.
Laporta talks about finances
Speaking to the media today, FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta has offered a detailed update on the club’s current financial situation and the saga of the release of Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor.
He first started by celebrating the fact that Barcelona had returned to the 1:1 rule after years, saying:
“We have returned to the 1:1 rule and this allows us to sign normally and register players like Olmo and Pau Víctor.”
“To get to this point we signed contracts like Nike, which is the best in the world of sportswear.” he added.
Delving into the Nike contract, he talked about why confirmation of the deal was delayed so long.
“If we had signed with Nike in the summer, we would not have received more than the 300 million euros that we managed to improve during this period.”
Then he gave a brief summary of all the events that occurred in the registry saga of Olmo and Víctor.
“We prepared and presented the documents to La Liga on December 27, sending them in time for the end of the year. Between the 28th and the 31st, La Liga asked us to provide some additional documents.”
He then went on to reveal how the club was confident they were financially stable enough to register the duo and how it all fell apart at the umpteenth moment.
“On December 31, we believed we were in full compliance with the Financial Stability Regulation and had achieved the 1:1 rule.”
“However, the league had a different opinion and asked us for additional requirements that, in our opinion, were not in the regulations. Therefore, he did not give us the 1:1 rule.” he added.
Laporta then revealed that the board even contacted the RFEF to grant the players the license to continue and how they did not respond optimally either.
“At the same time, we had already submitted a request to the Spanish Football Federation to extend the players’ license.”
“The Federation told us that the 1:1 rule was necessary, but in principle it did not see any obstacle to processing the extension.” he elaborated.
The president then made it clear why Olmo and Víctor were not granted registrations and how La Liga and the RFEF had a role to play.
“Due to the application of an old legal article, which the League and the Federation told us is no longer valid, a joint committee between the League and the Federation decided not to grant licenses.”
Giving his verdict on the aforementioned rule, Laporta said:
“In our opinion, this decision was not correct, because this article was created primarily to ensure the stability of competition, which is its main objective.”
“However, it was intended to prevent players from being registered with more than one club during the same season depending on changing circumstances, which does not apply at all in our case,” he added.
Barcelona then explored a new avenue, the salary allocated to Marc-André ter Stegen which had been removed from the calculations after the German suffered a season-ending injury.
“When Ter Stegen was injured, our legal team began to launch a series of claims based on the interpretation of the regulations.”
“The savings that arose from the absence of Ter Stegen due to a long-term injury, as you know, should have allowed us to register Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor.” he added.
Providing an update on how registrations were ultimately made, the club president said:
“On January 3 we completed all the documentation and obtained approval from La Liga in terms of Financial Fair Play rules.”
“Then we presented the request for the licenses to the Spanish Federation, but it was stopped due to the application of an old article of the regulations,” he added.
Finally, he revealed the role of the CSD in enabling the searches and the precautionary measures that are being implemented.
“We are addressing the Higher Sports Council (CSD), requesting an urgent precautionary measure, given the damage that is difficult to compensate in this case.”
“The CSD and the State Bar Association evaluated the request and approved the very important precautionary measure” he added.
It is now well known that the club returned to the 1:1 rule only after the sale of a portion of the VIP seats at Spotify Camp Nou. On that topic, Laporta said,
“Of the 9,600 VIP seats, we allocated 425, which represents approximately 5%. “One company got 360 places, while another got 75 places, to cover the amount we needed to register Olmo and Pau Víctor.”
Source: Mundo Deportivo
