5 silliest decisions of Barcelona management in recent years

Barcelona have been trying to look like a big player in the transfer market all summer, competing for Nico Williams and signing Dani Olmo, but the club’s problems have not gone anywhere. Moreover, they are gradually increasing.

Fans recall the previous president with horror, but it seems that Laporta, trying to save the club, also makes one mistake after another. Sometimes the management actions defy any logic.

We have collected the most bizarre decisions of recent years.

Laporta chooses very strange contractor for Camp Nou renovation

The fact that Camp Nou has long been in need of reconstruction was well known – even in 2019, 127 construction defects were counted at the arena. However, the catalyst for the work was that Florentino Perez was very successful in the reconstruction of the Santiago Bernabeu, and Laporta could not afford to lag behind.

Interestingly, construction magnate Florentino Perez chose Catalan company FCC Construccion for the reconstruction of his stadium, which has an experience of working with Atletico Madrid, Espanyol and other sports facilities. Barca chose Turkish company Limak, which previously built airports, train stations and oil refineries. The choice of this company was accompanied by rumours about them winning the tender in violation of the rules. In 2023, The Athletic talked to experts who doubted Limak’s ability to complete the facility efficiently and on time, also hinting that the management of the Catalan club simply decided to save money.

The Turks promised that the reconstruction will be completed in 2026, and 60 per cent of the audience will be able to fill the stadium in November 2024 when the club turn 125 years old. It is already clear that the fans will not come until December. The company have already been questioned a lot – this includes the issue of subcontractors hiring illegal workers who are forced to literally sleep in the bushes.

Local residents are also dissatisfied with the rush of builders who work until 12am. Now they are forced to work until 9pm and reduce the working hours on Saturday – this may also shift the time frame initially announced by the Turks.

In addition, Barca have also had problems with Turkish eco-activists, because Limak are cutting down protected forests in Turkey for the construction of coal mine.

Barca pay huge amounts of money to veterans

33-year-old Ilkay Gundogan and Inigo Martinez, who arrived last summer, receive 28 million euros gross combined. While Gundogan is still an indispensable player, Inigo was suffering from injuries and mostly came on as a substitute last season. Real Madrid’s Eduardo Camavinga and Aurelien Tchouameni, who are 21 and 23 years old respectively, receive 3 million less.

If you add the huge salary of Robert Lewandowski (33 million euros gross), which is even more than Kylian Mbappe’s, then we can safely say that Laporta has built the best pension fund in the world. Of course, we must take into account the fact that the payment structure is very complicated at Barca: players sign a contract, but their salary payments increase with each season, so there are deferred bonus payments.

For example, Frankie de Jong’s net worth reached as much as $20million, and last season he was the second highest-paid player in Europe after Kylian Mbappe.

They sacked Xavi, although they had previously tried to persuade him to stay

At Sergi Roberto’s farewell speech, Xavi saw Laporta for the first time since the dismissal. It’s hard to say what their 30-second conversation contained of, but the former Barca coach probably had something to say to the president.

When Xavi emotionally announced his decision to leave in February, Laporta was in no hurry to find a new candidate. In the end, the season was decided not to be a failure and the coach was persuaded to stay. Xavi succumbed to the arguments of the management, and then Laporta blew up after Xavi’s press conference in which the Barca boss honestly admitted that Barcelona do not have the money to compete with Real Madrid.

Joan Laporta does not like it when anyone discusses the financial state of the Catalans – he always tries to keep a good face in a bad game. Yesterday, he was sure that Xavi was the right coach for Barca to keep up their winning tradition, and a few days later he showed him the door.

There is no need to talk about any consistency in such conditions, so Hansi Flick will also find it difficult to work in conditions of super high expectations and minimal opportunities.

Barca forced Vitor Roque’s move in January, and now they want to get rid of him

The transfer of the Brazilian striker became known in the summer of 2023, but the Catalans did not have the opportunity to register him, deciding that the youngster should play a little more in the Brazilian Serie A. There he was compared to Romario and predicted a great future. The local press even relished the upcoming clash of the Brazilians [Vitor Roque and Endrick] in El Clasico.

But the personnel situation at Barca forced the Catalans to act faster. Injuries and Lewandowski’s poor form left them with only one natural striker – young Mark Guiu.

Roque was presented in style at Barcelona, but he did not become a key player in attack, scoring two goals in 14 La Liga matches.