🎙 Joan Laporta press conference “The Messi negotiation has ended”
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Laporta: "Good morning everyone. I am here to explain the situation with Leo Messi."
"First of all, I would like to say that unfortunately we have received a disastrous inheritance. That has made the club, the salary mass, represent 110% of the income of the club."
"We have no salary margin. La Liga's rules go through a financial fair play that sets limitations. We have no margin."
"When we arrived at the club, after the first conclusions of the audit and the closing of the season, the numbers seemed better. But they are much worse than expected."
"That has led to the expected losses being much higher than the expected debt. It is much higher. That means that with the current sports contracts we have this wage bill so much higher. There is no salary margin."
"The financial fair play you already know that in La Liga the cash criterion is not followed. That is why we could not enter the first contract agreed with Leo Messi, which I will explain in detail."
"To have this fair play, Barça had to mortgage the club for half a century with part of the audiovisual rights of the club. And I am not willing to do that for anyone."
"Fortunately, we have a 122-year-old institution that is above players, even above the best player in the world. We will be eternally grateful, but the club is above all."
"I want to end by saying that Leo wanted to stay, so did we. The fact that he wanted to stay, which was the first step to see if we could direct him, we have to thank all those who have negotiated, on the part of the club and Leo."
"Many things had to be made compatible. The issue of 'fair play', to do it in a certain time because the player has other proposals."
"A point has come where you have to stand up, leave your emotions out, analyze it with rigor and serenity that the numbers bring. We think that it should have been more flexible, but it is not an excuse because we knew the norm."
"Leo deserves everything, he has shown his esteem for Barça, his willingness to stay in Barcelona. If you allow me a personal assessment, I am sad, but we have done the best for the club."
"Leo leaves an excellent legacy. He has made history. He has been the player with the most accumulated successes in the history of the club. He leaves a mark."
Laporta: "He has been the reference for a splendid stage in the history of Barça. It has been the best. Now it begins a new era and there is a before and after for Leo."
"Like Samitier, Kubala, Johan. Messi is a reference within this axis. He has left many joys, a collective illusion with many sporting successes, images for history. The club has an eternal thanks."
"We wanted the post-Messi era to start in two years, not today. Given the circumstances, everything has been advanced. We all wanted to enjoy his magic, but it can't be."
"From LaLiga we had been hinted quite convincingly that the five-year contract could enter. But after an analysis they let us know that this contract couldn't be registered, and that triggered everything. Fair play will only be entered by accepting to mortgage the club."
“The Messi negotiation has ended”.
