Joan Laporta is juggling a lot of problems at Barcelona. He is yet to inform Xavi of his decision to replace him and is facing issues in balancing the club’s finances before the season ends.
Amid this chaotic situation, his former Barcelona presidential elections rival Victor Font has sent a threatening message to the Spaniard.
Font reportedly sent a letter to Laporta. This is the entire transcription of the letter: “Dear President, I am addressing you as a result of the deep concern that many partners feel about the march of the Bara both in the economic and social and institutional spheres, which are the areas that have to work well if we want sports successes to accompany us. Not long ago I shared with our partners my diagnosis of the situation in a letter I attach to this document.
“In recent days alone, three new symptoms have appeared that increase the perception of misgovernment: the information published to the media about the breach of the club's code of ethics with the payment of expenses of the personal endorsements of managers by a supplier, the news around possible conflicts of interest of the sports director and his task as a representative of players, and the terrible management of Xavi Hernández's relay (or not) as coach of our first team.
“But in addition, in the coming weeks, the closure of the 23-24 season has to be closed and the situation of the accounts continues to be of operational losses. Likewise, there is very little time to find a real investor who validates the so far fictitious sale of 49% of Bara Studios and who is willing to enter on a valuation of 400m, which is an unreal value, much above which the market is willing to pay.
“Faced with this situation, as a representative of the thousands of partners who made me confidence in the last elections, I would like to ask you, as president, and your Board of Directors the following:
“That the Club conducts a transparency exercise on all issues that are affecting its image and reputation very negatively, as promised at the beginning of the mandate. Especially on the issue of endorsements, which implies non-compliance with the institution's code of ethics, and the potential conflicts of interest of the sports director.
“That in the coming weeks they avoid doing any dubious operation that involves a leak forward (Barca *Studios), a new sale of assets (strategic players) and/or that more future incomes (new agreement with Nike) are hypothesized, with the sole aim of square the accounts and covering up the economic reality that has not been corrected.
“We must recognize once and for all where we are and rebuild the institution from the ground up. The situation is critical and maximum professionalization and experience is needed to reverse it. If we take advantage of all the potential we have we can compete against the best again.”
Laporta has shown no signs whatsoever of stepping aside from his role as Barcelona president. However, he has some difficult tasks to finalize before the start of the 2024/25 season.
