BARCELONA – Joan Laporta won Barcelona’s presidential election last Sunday, made his virtual debut accompanying Ronald Koeman’s team to Paris and started shaping the club he wants in the near future, where his first big goal is to Erling Haaland.
The new president focuses on the interest in solving the critical economic situation at Camp Nou and does not ignore the sporting aspect.
And if he already saw the need to “retouch the squad,” as he stated during the election campaign, once he was in command, direct employees of his team confirmed to ESPN, he plans to take the rest … For as far as its possibilities reach.
Those tweaks shouldn’t be much, but there’s one name that really stands out: Erling Haaland.
And when Laporta warned before the election that Barça “should be able to sign whatever it takes”, once at the helm of the Barça ship, he understands that the Norwegian footballer’s signing would be a big hit, on par with that that he personalized Ronaldinho in his time, who would relaunch the team and the club in every way.
“You have to know the exact situation of the club in every possible way,” explained one person from his candidacy, recalling that Barça’s moment is not so different from what Laporta encountered in 2003, but now, with almost three months before. the bow to the end of the race. season, “there is more time to change things.”
The new chairman, who is expected to take over the club next Tuesday, has fulfilled many tasks during the campaign. He signed Ferran Reverter as the new CEO, recruited Mateu Alemany to become the football director, where he will work with Jordi Cruyff, and although he didn’t want to keep in touch with Ronald Koeman for obvious reasons, he was interested. in the spirit of the squad and spoke to some heavyweights from the locker room, who, in his opinion, conveyed the team’s needs.
Channel Esport 3 revealed on Wednesday that Laporta’s main goal is to sign Haaland and that despite the enormous difficulty in achieving this, it is not closing doors. The Norwegian striker has an agreement with Borussia Dortmund that allows him to leave the club for 75 million euros … As of June 2022, bringing forward his foundation one year would be considered impossible unless his club were forced to agree for financial reasons. . to advance that scenario for a year.
What would that scenario be? Hans-Joachim Watzke, president of Borussia, accepted a few months ago that if the team is left out of the Champions League “we will have to sell our silverware” in clear reference to Haaland or Jadon Sancho, the two big future stars of his team. . And given the current situation in the Bundesliga, sixth in the standings four points from fourth place, it’s no fantasy to think this could happen. He would not enter the Champions League until next season and win the title in the current one, in which he is currently classified for the quarter-finals.
For Barça, however, the operation would top € 100 million, taking into account the large commissions to be split between Haaland’s father and his representative, Mino Raiola, who were already making money with their pass from Salzburg to Borussia.
There, Laporta considers the good relationship he has with Raiola an asset to his advantage, which began with the signing of Zlatan Ibrahimovic in 2009 and brought the representative a profit of nearly eight million euros and has been maintained over the years. In the summer of 2015, without going further, Raiola stated that the signing of Paul Pogba by Barça “will very well be possible if Laporta wins the elections”, taking Albert Soler (from Bartomeu’s candidacy) to Turin. left to talk to. Juventus.
DECREASE THE TEMPLATE
The arrival of Haaland is considered a major challenge, not only because of the club’s delicate financial situation facing signing, but, in addition to the presence of other major clubs interested in the player (with Real foreground). The need to reduce the payroll of the workforce and that’s where it’s not easy to make way for different players who wouldn’t be counted in the new sports project.
The names of Philippe Coutinho, Samuel Umtiti, Neto or Junior Firpo take to the stage in an obvious way … While they may not be the only ones in the revolution calling for the new Barça leadership, ready to take on a make absolute effort to add to what will be considered a differential footballer for years to come.