“Hope - wait - disappointment” is the mood cycle of Cules in each transfer window under President Joan Laporta. From waiting for a blockbuster contract, to disappointment when financial issues are always a barrier, causing deals to remain just rumors. This time too, while big teams are actively recruiting rookies, Barcelona has not yet made any moves in the transfer market.
In the past, President Joan Laporta was praised for saving the Camp Nou team from the brink of bankruptcy and selling future benefits to mortgage and maintain the team. A series of financial levers were then implemented to help Barca escape the quagmire of debt and financial violations. That risky decision initially brought positivity with the La Liga title and the Spanish Super Cup, as well as a positive profit in the fiscal year in January 2024. However, subsequent missteps by the leadership caused Barcelona to gradually lose ground and fall into chaos.
The Athletic describes that Vitor Roque's case is a typical image of Barcelona's "chaotic" era under Joan Laporta. In the summer of 2023, Barca spent more than 60 million Euros to recruit Roque from Athletico Paranaense. Brazilian striker played hard and got off to a good start in La Liga but often had to be on the bench due to not being able to convince Xavi.
According to Spanish media, the decision to recruit Vitor Roque did not simply come from professional factors. President Joan Laporta is said to be very angry when a series of young Brazilian stars joined Los Blancos, such as Vinicius Jr, Rodrygo and Endrick. Therefore, despite financial difficulties, Barcelona's leadership still decided to bring in Roque to avoid losing and create a counterweight to Endrick. Now, Barca's leadership wants to put pressure on and urgently sell Roque in the summer of 2024 to bring in new recruits.
The consequences of the wrong deals caused the Blaugrana to once again fall into a difficult financial situation in the transfer market. However, Barcelona's leadership, led by President Joan Laporta, still does not accept this fact. According to SPORT, the main reason Xavi was fired last season was because he admitted that Barca was having financial difficulties and was unlikely to compete with Real Madrid in the transfer market.
Not only that, President Joan Laporta is also said to have changed Barcelona's transfer strategy ahead of the new season. Instead of bringing in rookies to fill key positions in the squad, Barca turned their attention to Nico Williams and Dani Olmo .
According to MARCA, Joan Laporta wants to bring in high-class stars to make fans feel excited, in the context that Real Madrid has just successfully recruited Kylian Mbappe. This will help Laporta continue to be supported and trusted to hold the position of team president.
Despite all financial difficulties, Blaugrana is still doing everything to bring Dani Olmo back to Camp Nou, after Nico Williams decided to stay at Athletic Bilbao. Goal newspaper describes that this could be the next wrong decision of President Joan Laporta, because Barca owns Ikay Gundogan, Pedri, Gavi and Fermin Lopez - players who play well in the same position as Olmo.
If this deal comes true, Barca's midfield will become cramped and fragile, possessing too many attacking midfielders but lacking defensive midfielders. It's been more than a year since Sergio Busquets joined Inter Miami, Barca still hasn't found a worthy replacement for the 36-year-old captain's position. Previously, Xavi had to use Andreas Christensen as a firefighting solution in the context of the team's midfield always being stifled.
Once a hero when he brought Barcelona through a difficult financial period, President Joan Laporta has now become a criminal with arrogance and poor management ability. Barca's 2024-2025 season could even be decided in the 2024 summer transfer window if Laporta continues to make wrong decisions.
