From Laporta:
“This press conference is called because I want to put in context the several situations that you will ask me, and to explain what we have found when we arrived at the club."
"The first thing we had to do when we arrived was to ask for a loan of €80M because otherwise, we could not pay the salaries."
"We also found that we had to do urgent work at the Camp Nou, because if it was not repaired, it posed a risk to the people attending the stadium. Thanks to that we have been able to have an audience."
“We arrived and the club had already received 50% of the TV rights in advance."
"We found a bad wage policy with an inverted pyramid: veterans have long contracts, and young people have short ones."
“The impact of COVID-19 is €91M."
"Barça has a negative net worth of €481M, audited and already presented to the league."
"The club's wage bill is 103% of the club's total revenue. The wage bill is €617M: between 25% and 30% more than our competitors."
"The previous board had someone to discover talents in South America. He charged €8M, an inappropriate amount."
"This is all part of a large operation [by the former board of directors], all to bypass all internal controls. 'Espai Barça's invoices were divided."
"I received Bartomeu's letter and I see it full of lies. With an effort to justify a management that is unjustifiable. It's an exercise in desperation."
"I don't agree with Bartomeu's numbers and figures either. I absolutely disagree. They are responsible until March 17, 2021 and the consequences of their management. No one will escape their responsibilities."
"They [the former board] ended up believing their own lies. And they did not resign because of Procicat [Catalonia's civil protection plan against COVID], they resigned because the motion of censure was successful."
“The debt is €1,350M. The economic and patrimonial situation is very worrying and the financial situation is dramatic."
"In Bartomeu's letter, he spoke of a further €90M salary cut planned. But the players didn't want to talk to him. Moreover, the wages that were lowered were just carry-overs."
"Regarding Barça Corporate, Bartomeu talked about 49% sales and offers. They were also talking about the offer of the CVC, the SuperLeague. Basically, their profits were on the club's mortgage and nothing certain."
"I've lost my count at the amount of lies in that letter."
"The CVC deal was to mortgage television rights for half a century, and it is not structured as income but as a debt: the legal structure is not that they make us a payment, it is like a credit/loan."
"It's another lie. We have not forgiven Neymar €16.5M. We found 4 cross-party demands between Barça and Neymar. It was best for both sides to give up the risks."
"It's not true that the salary cap should be triggered to compete with state-owned clubs. Wasting Neymar's €222M triggers wages and cushioning. The sports policy has been wrong: it has not gone well for us."
"Espai Barça was a hoax. More than 12,000 members had to move from 'first to third grade'. They didn't face the problems because they didn't explain them either."
"Stopping investing was a way to finance itself, and now we have to face urgent repairs that will cost around €20M. In Espai Barça, we are rebuilding the project in a way that is viable and sustainable."
"If the assembly approves the funding, we hope to start the works of Espai Barça in the summer of 2022. The project was undervalued in terms of costs."
"I hope that the other captains act like Piqué. The negotiations are going well. Jordi is right, we contacted him on May 24th. Then he received a letter on July 8th, but I understand the players."
"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."
