Barcelona president Joan Laporta revealed that the team turned down some offers for the squad’s main players, including one of 200 million euros (1.07 billion reais) for 16-year-old striker Lamine Yamal.
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“We received offers for players like Lamine Yamal, of 200 million euros, and we said no. Because we trust him, in his sporting projection, and we have no need to sell, on the contrary. We are in the process of economic recovery and we are already seeing the end of the tunnel”, said Laporta on “El Podcast del Presidente”, from Barça Studios.
The agent reinforced that the club’s main idea is to maintain the highlights of the squad.
“We had very important offers for Alejandro Balde, FermÃn, for Gavi, Pedri, De Jong, Araújo… But we don’t want to sell them. Just with those that I told you about, we would have an income of 1 billion euros (5, 43 billion reais). If someone thinks they play little and wants to leave… but we are very satisfied with all of them.”
The president also explained Barcelona’s hiring policy and valued “La Masia”, the Spanish team’s youth teams.
“Only players will arrive where we need to reinforce certain positions and who do not go against La Masia’s policy, because we want to promote players who are already mature at Barça Atlètic (Team B). The other day, for example, Casadó made his debut, he he had many call-ups without debuting in LaLiga and played against Atlético (Madrid). This is the Barça model, a unique model of understanding and playing football. We are not going to change that”, he stated.
“Only proven players will arrive, but it is not always easy to get it right. We have carefully studied most of the positions relating to the academy players who will be promoted to reinforce the professional team”, concluded Laporta.
Barcelona will only enter the field next Saturday, at 5pm (BrasÃlia time), when they host Las Palmas in the 30th round of LaLiga.
Source: Gazetaesportiva
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