Barcelona sacked Xavi Hernandez and hiring Hansi Flick as the new manager, the club’s President Joan Laporta, in a recent interview, gave reason behind some of the key decisions.
Laporta also offered his two cents on various other topics that dominate the Barcelona circles right now.
First and foremost, Laporta talked about the quality of the squad and how new coach Flick can best utilise it. He specifically mentioned Lewandowski.
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“We have very quality players. Frenkie, Gundo, Joaos and Lewandowski. Flick will get the most out of a player of Lewandowski’s quality, he scored 26 goals when he won the League, this year almost 20, a total of 26, a scorer from whom you can get a lot out of,” he said.
Laporta notably went on to reveal that Lewandowski has rejected offers from Saudi Arabia in order to continue at Barcelona. This checks out with some of the reports that came out earlier in the year.
“He is motivated, he has said no to offers from Arabia and he did not want to leave because he is comfortable in the country. Flick has to understand this to get the most out of it,” he said.
Laporta was asked about the future of Vitor Roque, who has found himself in a sticky situation after joining Barcelona in January.
Laporta pointed out that the Brazilian was supposed to join in the summer, but did not give out much information in regards to his future.
“Vitor Roque was scheduled to come at the end of the season and already knows the environment. I think they will all remain, except for some who are out because their contract ends or because they have asked to leave. We also have those returning from loan. I leave the planning in the hands of Deco and Flick,” he said.
When asked about Joao Cancelo and Joao Felix, Laporta revealed that Barcelona would like both players to stay at Camp Nou.
“We want the Joaos to continue. Deco is working to ensure that they continue another season in the current conditions. Flick considers that they are high-quality players and when he coached Bayern he already tried to incorporate Joao Felix,” he said.
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The highlight of the interview saw Laporta talk about Barcelona’s potential transfer strategy for the summer ahead.
The Barcelona president hinted that a big-money sale is not necessarily required while also stressing the importance of signing a new defensive midfielder. He did, however, acknowledge the contributions of Andreas Christensen.
“We are studying the positions to be reinforced with Flick. In the pivot, with Christensen, the team took on another dimension, but it is a position in which another player may need to join,” he revealed.
“In the quarry, we have Marc Casado, who has had an extraordinary season. We’re not talking about players, we’re talking about positions,” he added.
