Barcelona’s Joan Laporta slams critics: We’re fixing the club

Barcelona president Joan Laporta hit out at critics of his management on Saturday, as members approved the club’s 2023-24 accounts during its annual general meeting.

The members present voted — with 452 in favour and 156 against — in favour of Laporta’s board’s accounts for last season, which included an overall net loss of €91 million ($98.9m), due to issues with investment in its “Barça Vision” subsidiary.

The vote, taken by delegates who represent the overall club membership, will be viewed as a victory for Laporta, as some opponents had urged members to reject the accounts.

In a speech ahead of the vote, Laporta — who was elected for his second spell as Barça president in 2021 — defended his board’s handling of the club, which has seen them take drastic measures in an attempt to improve its finances.

These measures have included selling a proportion of the club’s television rights income and assets such as audiovisual production company Barça Studios, as well as reducing the first-team wage bill.

“We haven’t reached the end of the road, but it’s true that we’re better off in a financial and sporting sense than in 2021,” Laporta said. “We’re putting the finances back on a sound footing in as little time as possible. We’re fixing the finances without the members having to put their hands in their pockets.

“We’ve cured the wound that had been bleeding since 2017. Our income has risen, at last … we’re better off, and there are clear indications of that. The reduction in the sporting wage bill means we have a better ratio of salaries to income. When we arrived, it was at 98%.

“It was unsustainable. We’ve also trusted in homegrown players. We only invested [this summer] in Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor. [Olmo] cost €47m.”

Laporta attacked the club’s critics — without naming them — saying that they were envious of their success, referring to the investigation into payments Barça made to Spain’s former refereeing vice-president, Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira.

“Our anthem says it. We fight against everything and everyone,” Laporta said. “We fight against those who keep bringing up the Negreira case, which we’re winning in court. Whenever things are going well, out they come again. There are people who don’t want us to win, it makes them angry. They want to destroy us.”

Barcelona are top of the LaLiga table under new coach Hansi Flick, appointed by Laporta last summer.

Flick said in a news conference on Saturday that Olmo, Gavi and Fermín López had all recovered from injury ahead of Barça’s game with Sevilla, and were likely to be involved as substitutes.

“It’s an important step for Gavi,” Flick said, when asked about the midfielder, who last played in November 2023. “Fermin could play. Olmo will start on the bench.”