Laporta on Guardiola, Chygrynskiy and Eto'o

Speaking to Spanish radio station RNE, Barcelona president Joan Laporta talked about Barcelona manager Josep Guardiola, last Barcelona signing Dmytro Chygrynskiy and former Barcelona player Samuel Eto'o.


Guardiola
From outside the club, people have always tried to destabilize the club and myself – the same happened with Rijkaard before – but I deny that we have a bad relationship. My relationship with Pep couldn't be better. At a personal level, I admire him. And as a coach, I will be eternally grateful because he is the key for this team living its best moment in the history, although Txiki and the players also contributed a lot.

Chygrynskiy
Guardiola didn't have any doubts, he had been totally impressed by the player. There were no other options because Pep was very clear in his decision. I don't think this transfer will affect the situation of Puyol. The captain will keep his place since Guardiola will use the rotations in a correct way.

Eto'o
I am sure he will be very motivated when he returns to the Camp Nou because he is a born winner. But unlike when he played against Madrid, he doesn't need to prove anything here because he knows the players, the coaches and the president have valued him and still value him. He is a player who has given everything on the pitch and he is an excellent person.

Whatever happens in the games against Inter, our opinion about him will not change. Eto'o has been at Barcelona for five years and he was there at every important event. When Eto'o was not there because of an injury, that reflected on the team and when he was there, we won everything. When I said a while ago that he didn't pick up the phone, that was because he was not in Spain at that time. Now we are regularly in contact.


Read more:
Barcelona president Laporta thanks Eto'o
Renewal Guardiola postponed until next year
Chygrynskiy: "This transfer was destiny"

Picture of the day: Laporta

Barcelona president Joan Laporta upon arrival in San Francisco.

Quote of the day: Unknown person

Now we see why you need a driver!

member of the Barcelona delegation,
when Barcelona president Joan Laporta was driving a virtual car during the club's visit to the Microsoft headquarters

more quotes

Video of the day: Laporta

Laporta talkative to the press recently

Laporta:
Oh! A microphone! I will go and give some quick statements and I return!

Person:
Hold yourself, Jan! Stand firm and don't give in to your instincts!

(click the cartoon to enlarge)

source:
elmundodeportivo.es

see more cartoons here

Picture of the day: Laporta

Barcelona president Joan Laporta was earlier this week for a few days in Israel, where he attended the wedding of a daughter of player's agent Pini Zahavi. Manchester United player Rio Ferdinand and Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon were also present.

During his stay, Laporta also visited in Jerusalem the Wailing Wall and the Church of the Resurrection, where he burnt a candle for the passed season.

Picture of the day: Laporta

Barcelona president Joan Laporta participated yesterday in a veterans' football game in the Catalan city of Sitges.

Laporta: "They sign names, we have a team"

Barcelona gave an interview to American newspaper The New York Times.





Real has now spent over $150 million on two of the top players in the world in Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaká. Does it worry you to see them bulk up their squad, and are you concerned about inflated transfer fees?
These are not the market prices. The reason they are doing this is that they have emergencies, so they have to take risks. Barcelona is their rival, and we won everything last season and that made them anxious. Looking to next season, you know that they need to motivate their supporters. They are buying names with great talent, but to join the players to be a team will not be easy for them.

It will be a very interesting season: we have two different models. One model is you build a team with checks and money. And another model is the one we have, where we have a trajectory, where we are mature, and identified with our culture. Of the players we have in our first team, more than 50 percent come from our youth teams. We think that it makes our club sustainable.

Now do you feel there is pressure on you to go out and sign a big name, or do you look at your staff and figure that you already have the best player in the world in Lionel Messi?
That’s right, we already have the best player in the world, Messi. But the most important thing that we have is a team that works. Like I told you, they sign names, and we have a team.

But you could argue that your club has done the same in the past. Barca made a big push for David Beckham in 2003 and, when it didn’t work, you went out and signed Ronaldinho.
It was different. At the beginning of our mandate, we signed Ronaldinho. But we also incorporated Rafa Marquez for 5 million and the second season, in 2004, we incorporated Deco, Eto’o, Giuly, Edmilson, Belletti. We were creating a team. And the difference is that we create FIFA World Players and Ballons D’Or, and the other model buys FIFA World Players and Ballons D’Or. Ronaldinho was not any of those things yet when he came to Barcelona. We created a team for him to be the best.

You said that they have to take risks now by bringing in big names. But last season you took a risk in the other direction last season by hiring Pep Guardiola, who had never managed at the top level.
At the time, we were sure that this coach had a lot of experience at our club. Pep was a player. He was a reference. He was captain. He knew our club very well. At the same time, he was very talented and very intelligent about football. And he was brave. We knew him as a coach of our second team and we followed him for a season. So from our point of view, it was not as risky as people said.

When you first took over in 2003, you said you wanted to create a revolution in football. Now, entering your final year as president, can you look back and say you’ve done that?
We wanted to create a philosophy of attacking, attractive football — the origin is the Johan Cruyff philosophy. It’s a mix between Catalan and Dutch football, with some touches of Brazilian and Argentine. And we have made this is our philosophy about football.

You’re a club with a global reach, but you’re also very proud of your Catalan roots. Historically, the club has even been an emblem for Catalan separatists and, under Franco, it was the last bastion of Catalan culture. And you’ve made it a point of your tenure to remind people that the club is a fundamentally local symbol.
Of course, it’s the flag of our country. We are Catalans. This is our identity. When we say we are more than a club, it’s because it’s a club tied to our culture. And we’ve been global being Barca, the authentic Barca, with our language, with our players.

read the complete interview here


Read more:
The year of Laporta
Laporta: "We want to be global to be stronger"

The year of Laporta (part 2)

Barcelona president Joan Laporta looked back at the year 2008 in an interview with Catalan sports paper Sport.





July: Laporta survives a vote of no confidence with 60% of the socios asking for his resignition.
The result of the vote was a vote of punishment and that's how I accepted it. When it seemed like this whole fiasco would be dropped, some members of the board decided to leave the committee. They shared the same idea of the model behind the club that this board defended, but they didn't share the same ideas on how our project would continue.

August: Eto'o in the end stays at Barca.
Samuel had to stay with us and the process of keeping him in the summer went well. We regained the best Eto'o, determined and motivated at 100%.

September: Victory against Espanyol with incidents in the stands.
A great victory but also the day that I panicked the most in the presidential box. The feeling of insecurity was tough, and I also had to hear insults and accusations because they made us responsible for the actions of a few radical supporters that we don't even let into the Camp Nou.

October: Barça thrashes Atlético 6-1.
It was spectacular. The first half was dream-like. We will remember the match against Atlético for a long time. Aside from the goals, I remember the speed that the team moved at and the pressure they put on the opposition.

November: SPORT discovers Guardiola's rules.
Josep Guardiola manages the dressing room with the experience of being in a professional dressing room for many years, and he perfectly knows the club and its environment. He understands that the group of people that have to work with each other daily must have a good relationship and a few norms when living together, as a group, but also with as much normality as possible.

December: Barça are winter champions.
A great response after Villarreal's first goal and an important victory against a direct rival. We extend our lead, playing great games, things that are only important if we can continue doing them as the league continues.

Translated by: AL


This was the seond and last part of this interview. You can read the first part here:
The year of Laporta (part 1)

Barcelona president wants to retire with Rijkaard

Spanish news site El Confidencial claims that Barcelona president Joan Laporta wants to become one of the few Barcelona presidents who never dismissed a manager (read more here). Laporta has therefore slowed down the negotiations with former Chelsea manager José Mourinho (45) to become the successor of current Barcelona manager Frank Rijkaard (45) as of next season, although the first talks with the Portuguese in January were held with the president's approval. Nevertheless, it is clear to everybody, also to Laporta, that Rijkaard will only be able to stay in charge if Barcelona wins the Champions League or the Liga this season.

The newly elected Barcelona board appointed Frank Rijkaard as manager in the summer of 2003. The Laporta presidency will end in 2010.

(read more on the manager debate here)

Barcelona president wants to renew Rijkaard

Barcelona sports paper Sport claims that, despite almost daily rumours about possible successors (read more here), Barcelona not only wants to continue with current manager Frank Rijkaard (45) until his contract expires in 2009, but that a part of the board even would like to see the Dutchman renew for one extra year.

This option is especially been put forward by Barcelona president Joan Laporta, who will leave in 2010 and who would prefer to finish his mandate together with the coach with whom he started back in 2003 instead of having to deal with a new coach in his last year as president.

Barcelona vice president pushing for Mourinho

Catalan sports weekly paper Gol claims that Barcelona economic vice president Ferran Soriano is the one who is pushing the most for the arrival of former Chelsea manager José Mourinho (45). Soriano would have the support from the majority of the board, liking the inflexibility and the professionalism of the Portuguese.

In mid-January, Soriano would even have contacted Mourinho, through his agent Jorge Mendes, to deny the rumours about a veto from Barcelona legend Johan Cruijff and Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain. Convinced by those words, Mourinho has since then postponed every decision on his future.

Ferran Soriano would prefer to bring in Mourinho because he thinks the Portuguese manager is the one who can lead the team to success in the coming years, which could make Soriano's road to the presidency in 2010 a lot smoother. The same reason would lead current president Joan Laporta to start supporting more the Mourinho option: Laporta wants to leave in 2010 by the front door, with a trophy.

Rijkaard was on his way out

Barcelona president Joan Laporta revealed yesterday that manager Frank Rijkaard was close to an exit after Barcelona lost at home against Real Madrid last December.

The growing pressure from the fans and from within the board lead the president to have a crisis meeting with Rijkaard in which the situation of the team was analyzed and in which Laporta asked the coach if he still had the will and the motivation to go on. Rijkaard answered he was more motivated than ever and that he thought he was capable to turn the situation around. The answer convinced the president and Rijkaard was not dismissed.

Laporta said he thought it was now clear the board took the right decision: “Rijkaard is a skilful manager with clear ideas who knows how to manage a squad. He’s a man from the club, who spreads an image of Barcelona we all want the club to spread. He’s capable, honest and composed. I believe in the manager and what he stands for, he has my total confidence. A change wouldn’t have been the right thing.”

The Barcelona president repeated that, if it was only up to him, Rijkaard could stay on as long as he wants.

Transfer history: Aimar (Zaragoza)

Presumed Barcelona insider Diego Valor writes on his blog this week that Argentinian playmaker Pablo Aimar (28), then playing for Valencia, was close to joining Barcelona in the summer of 2003. Both sports director Txiki Begiristain and newly elect president Joan Laporta (following the advice of Barcelona legend Johan Cruijff) preferred Aimar over Ronaldinho to become the central figure of the new squad. In the end vice president Sandro Rosell won the discussion and Ronaldinho came to Barcelona.

In the summer of 2006, Pablo Aimar left Valencia for 12 million euro and signed with Zaragoza.