The former member of the Espai Barça commission intervenes in the Assembly to criticize the management of the board of directors
He receives a forceful response from Laporta, who accuses him of being a demagogue, and Romeu
The board of directors of FC Barcelona has had no problems approving the liquidation of last season’s financial year, which closed with profits of 304 million euros thanks to the money received through the now famous levers.
The economic vice president of the entity, Eduard Romeu, has been in charge of defending the liquidation before the commissioners and subsequently answering the questions asked by them. Especially interesting has been the confrontation with Jaume Llopis, present at the Auditori 1899, and former member of the Espai Barça commission, very critical of the numbers presented by the board, raising the debt to 3,000 million euros and describing the participation as a failure. in the Assembly.
The intervention of Llopis, who even confronted Enric Masip at one point during his speech, was responded to first by Romeu and then by President Laporta himself.
“I thought it was good to do an exercise in transparency and unity of Barcelona fans with you and other partners. We have given them preferential treatment, it’s my fault. They won’t have them anymore. We held a meeting and they were given all the explanations. There are a red line which is that they do not touch us professionals. In front of the room they played one role and before the media they played another. Saying that the debt is 3,000 million is not fair. Calculating the Espai Barça as a debt is not fair. No “We hide the 1,200 million. Espai Barça has a life of its own, since it will be paid with extra operating income. It is necessary and essential to pay the club’s debt. The sooner we get rid of it, the better,” said the economic vice president.
Laporta has been more forceful. “You have economic training, don’t play sleight of hand. You explain things sufficiently. We are living a reality. That you call on other Barcelona fans doesn’t give me anything and that you give me support in the ‘Negreira Case’ doesn’t either, because later it does interventions due to your desire for prominence. I always see you in a fixed gear and doing demagoguery. You belittle the economic commission, professionals who have just told you that we are better than when we arrived. Your opinion is intentional. Criticism helps and it is time to close ranks. You see everything in a different color, you are doing demagoguery and you have a desire for protagonism, you have always been like that,” explained the Barça president, who recalled that “if we are better sportingly, it is because things are done well in the economic part or does he think that the players come to play here just because. We had an offer for De Jong of 100 million euros and we did not want to sell him for the project.”
The agents and Piqué
In response to questions from other officials, Romeu explained the reason why the money paid to player agents as commissions has increased: “There has been a change in the concept on the recommendation of UEFA. Before, the player was paid in his contract and he paid the agent. Now, one part is paid by the player and the other is paid by the club. It is the same, a little better even for us,” said the economic vice president, who recalled that commitments for deferred contracts end in 2025 and who has issued a thank you: “There are players who have helped us, three of the captains have finished a stage and one of them has made an additional effort.” Without naming him, he was referring to Gerard Piqué, who forgave part of what was owed to him.
Finally, Romeu, questioned about whether the entire operation with the audiovisual business is financial engineering and that the board has reported a profit of 208 million euros, the manager explained that “it is an application of accounting standards. It is not an issue of will or not will, it must be done this way.