Barcelona president talks Flick, Olmo, recent form, Nico Williams – ‘Never said we would sign him’

Although the only item on the agenda for FC Barcelona’s Extraordinary Assembly was the ratification of the agreement with Nike, the club members took the opportunity to ask president Joan Laporta several important questions regarding the current state of the club.

The Barça chief was asked about the recent performance of the first team, given their recent dip in form which has seen them collect just five points from the past six La Liga games.

Despite the decline, Laporta firmly expressed his full support for coach Hansi Flick, saying:

“We have blind faith in Hansi Flick. He knows what he has in hand. He is managing a team with young players, and that can lead to situations like this.

“Young players with a lot of talent who have brought us joy and generated great expectations. The expectations remain intact.”

Continuing, he added: “The players should approach it as if we are starting from scratch and give everything. With effort, talent, and commitment, we can achieve success.”

The club’s president also revealed that he had had several discussions with the German coach and that both were “angry and worried.”

However, continuing, Laporta added: “We concluded that if in August we had been told we would be first in the league and second in the Champions League at the end of December, we would have signed it.

“It is true that the setbacks have cooled us down because we had a comfortable and hopeful position in the league, but the team deserves trust.”

Nevertheless, Laporta sent a subtle message to the Barça squad, reminding them of their current standing.

“It is also true that they have not won anything yet. They should not think that everything is done. I say this from my experience in the Rijkaard era, when we won the 2006 Champions League, and in the Pep era, in Rome in 2009,” he said.

“Those were teams that had won a lot. The current team has not yet fulfilled the expectations set, but the excitement is intact. If the team starts with the mentality it had when the league began, everything will go well,” he concluded.

Another club member raised concerns about the potential registration issues regarding Dani Olmo and asked how the club would have gone about registering Nico Williams, had the club signed him last summer. Laporta responded firmly, saying:

“We never said we would sign him, we said we could make a deal of that magnitude. And we made a slightly smaller operation with Dani Olmo, who cost about €48 million.”

“The sporting management thought it was more important to sign Olmo than other players. We have temporarily registered him and hope to do so definitively. There are always doubts about registrations, but in the end, we always manage to register them,” the Barça president added.

Laporta also addressed comments made by the new president of the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), Rafael Louzan, who praised Florentino Perez’s management and referred to himself as a Madridista.

“Those are inappropriate statements. They are part of the sociological Madridismo. All the powers over there are Madridista. We are fighting against this. What we won’t do is stop our demands,” said Laporta.

“We were told we would go hand-in-hand, the Federation with La Liga. His statement was offensive. It was uncalled for.

“I hope it was a slip of the tongue, and that we can have a good relationship with the Federation, both the Catalan and the Spanish, as well as with UEFA and FIFA, which we already have,” he concluded.

Source: SPORT