There has been a lot of questions surrounding Barcelona's potential transfers during the winter window or the summer break, and before anything else is said or done, president Joan Laporta stepped up to name the culprit of the team's lack of reinforcements,
Speaking in a press conference where he tackled a variety of topics, the main man for Los Culés aimed quite a dig at LaLiga's president, Javier Tebas, for not allowing the club he leads to add new players due to his frequent changes to the league's Financial Fair Play rules.
According to Laporta, Tebas has complicated things when it comes to signing new players, even if he feels the team has followed rules that keep being changed to damage their planning process.
"LaLiga has established some very restrictive rules against us. With those rules and thanks to the financial leverage we have earned, we have been able to register players with enormous effort. But LaLiga keeps changing the rules to keep us from adding new players. It has changed the way we plan our squad, but we will keep fighting to add new platers and we will try to convince LaLiga to be more flexible with their rules so that we can keep being competitive," Laporta stated.
The president kept on going about this matter, hinting that the team's relationship with Tebas and LaLiga is not as good as they would like.
"We will keep pushing and working to add players. We will also try to improve our relationship with La Liga, because sometimes it's really complicated. But we will persevere. We have a good team of people fighting for our goals. We are planning this season and the next with difficulties and a massive effort," Laporta added.
The press conference also included a mention of Barcelona's financial problems that came from the previous administration.
"LaLiga has set some limits considering their balance, and in Barcelona's case, we inherited a massive debt. There were contracts that increased over time, which led us to have over $300M in debt. We have pulled off a big effort, but as we manage to reduce the first-team's wages, we will also be able to have a much more competitive squad," Laporta concluded.
Barça tried to add depth to their squad during the winter transfer window, with players such as LA Galaxy's Julián Araujo left stranded for LaLiga's limitations against Los Culés. The team has already announced a big overhaul to their roster, which may force the Spanish giants to let some of their best players leave to meet the league's wage standards.
