Live thread: President Laporta's press conference to analyse the results of the audit.
Laporta: "This press conference is called because I want to put several situations into context and to explain what we have found when we arrived at the club."
Laporta: "The first thing we had to do when we arrived was to request a loan of 80 million euros because if not, we could not pay the payroll."
Laporta: "We also found that we had to carry out urgent repair works at the Camp Nou, if we didn't, the people visiting the stadium would be at risk."
Laporta: "The costs of this were 1.8 million euros. Thanks to the speed with which we acted, this Sunday the public has been able to come."
Laporta: "We arrived and the club had already received 50% of the TV rights in advance."
Laporta: "The salary policy that we stumbled upon from the previous board is wrong, it's what the experts call the inverted pyramid, where veterans have long contracts and young players have short ones, and that makes it very difficult to renegotiate contracts."
Laporta: "Incredible figures have been paid to intermediaries."
Laporta: "The impact COVID-19 is 91 million euros."
Laporta: "We have a salary bill that represents 103% of the club's total income."
Laporta: "The previous board had someone to discover talents in South America. He charged 8 million euros, an inappropriate amount."
Laporta: "Barça have a negative net worth of 451 million euros."
Laporta: "The sports payroll is 617 million euros, between 25% and 30% more than our competitors."
Laporta: "There was a modus operandi to bypass the club's internal controls, split invoices, as in the case of I3 Ventures, or go through the Assembly. This method was also used for Espai Barça and in the Departments of Marketing and Computer Science."
Laporta: "I received the letter from Bartomeu and I see it full of lies. With an effort to justify a management that is unjustifiable."
Laporta: "Nor do I share the numbers that Bartomeu is talking about. We absolutely disagree. They are responsible until March 17th, 2021 and the consequences of their management. No one will escape their responsibilities."
Laporta: "We got a loan of 550M with an interest rate of 1.1% to restructure the club."
Laporta: "The previous board left the Camp Nou open when there were dangers. And they knew it."
Laporta “As of today, the debt is €1,350 million. The economic and patrimonial situation is very worrying and the financial situation is dramatic."
Laporta: "In Bartomeu's letter he spoke of another 90M salary cut planned. The truth is that the players didn't even want to talk to him."
Laporta: "The Barça Corporate thing was to cover holes in the short term. It was a lie."
Laporta: "CVC was to mortgage television rights for half a century, and it is not structured as an income but as a debt. The legal structure is not that they make a payment to us, it is like a loan."
Laporta: "We have not forgiven Neymar 16 million euros. Another lie. What we think is that the best thing was for the two parties to reach an agreement."
Laporta: "The sports policy has been disastrous under the previous management."
Laporta: "They received 222 million euros for Neymar and they spend it at the speed of light and disproportionately. And now we find ourselves with skyrocketing salaries and amortisations."
Laporta: "The Johan Cruyff stadium had a budget of 4 million and has cost 20 million euros."
Laporta: "If the assembly approves the funding, we hope to be able to start work on the stadium in the summer of 2022."
Laporta: "Bartomeu's letter existed of 8 points and all 8 were complete lies."
Laporta: "We will look for solutions to clear responsibilities."
It's time for questions now.
Laporta: "Responsibility action? It would be hasty to answer this question, it must be the result of a legal study. What is certain is that they are responsible."
Laporta: "Alba's salary reduction? I thank Piqué for his willingness to help the club. His reduction has helped us to register players. We can register Kun with the agreement we plan to have with the other players. I hope the other captains act like Piqué."
Laporta: "I understand the players, who come from deferring their salary and now another effort is being asked of them. Busquets, Alba and Sergi Roberto are acting well."
Laporta: "Becoming a S.A.? The situation is dramatic, but we have good news. The strategic plan based on our credibility and experience, on the assets that Barça have, makes this situation temporary."
Laporta: "We have five sponsor proposals for on the shirt."
Laporta: "The club will always be owned by its members."
Laporta: "In the long run the club will regain financial strength."
Laporta: "The players have fixed salaries and bonuses. We are putting logic to all that. With Piqué the clearest thing was to make a reduction to be able to register. With the others, postponements or suspension of bonuses are contemplated."
Laporta: "The idea is to restructure everything, with the entire squad."
Laporta: "I have nothing to say about the words of Jaume Llopis, about whether Florentino's influence was behind Messi's departure. This gentleman was not a manager and I better stay quiet."
Laporta: "My morale is very high, and even more after seeing the team yesterday, I am convinced that the decisions that should be taken have been made, as in the case of Leo, a sad but necessary decision."
Laporta: "If we are all united, the new era that begins will be very successful. The players are committed on and off the pitch. They are very motivated."
Laporta: "I got this message of the players. 'We will leave every last drop of blood to make this new era a success'."
Laporta: "I think that in a couple of years, the club's economy will be healthy."
Laporta: "We have eternal gratitude to Messi, it has been a love story and a relationship of many years that has been very successful that sadly has come to an end. It is the law of life."
Laporta "Seeing Messi at PSG gave me very contradictory feelings. I would have preferred to see him at Barcelona, but the club is above everyone."
Laporta: "Koeman is happy with the squad he has, and you can already see which players he counts on and which players he doesn't count on. We will work until the end of the window."
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