Barcelona's president discusses Araujo, Lewandowski's ban, the January window, and Fair Play.
Barcelona president Joan Laporta recently addressed the media, providing an update on the club's salary cap situation for the coming summer while also discussing the situations of Ronald Araujo and Robert Lewandowski.
Araujo has recently been in the news due to growing tensions between Uruguay and Barcelona over the defender's recovery. The Catalans suspect that South America is hastening his recovery in order to get him back on the field for the World Cup.
While the two parties continue to discuss the situation, there have been suggestions that Araujo, who has recently resumed ball training, could play for Uruguay in their final group game against Ghana.
However, Laporta has ruled out such a scenario, stating that the 23-year-old defender will not play in that game. "Araujo will not play against Ghana," Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu confirmed (h/t Que T'hi Jugues).
When asked how concerned he was about the defender's situation, Laporta responded (h/t Victor Navarro): "A lot." We don't want to force the player to relapse. He's practicing... I hope Araujo's health improves."
Moving on, Laporta discussed Robert Lewandowski's three-match ban following his red card in the game against CA Osasuna.
While Barcelona has already confirmed that they will appeal the decision, Laporta has slammed it as illogical.
"It just doesn't make sense." They've banned him for three games, when it should only be one. "We're furious," he said.
Laporta also provided insight into the club's plans for the upcoming January transfer window, stating that there is no immediate need to bolster the squad.
He did, however, confirm that Barcelona will be subject to the 1/4 Fair Play rule beginning this summer, as opposed to the current 1/1 rule.
"We strengthen ourselves in the summer; we don't have to do anything in January," Laporta explained.
"We are currently at 1/1, but we will return to 1/4 in the summer." If we had to sign, we'd prefer to do so in the winter, but we have a strong team," he added.
So, even though Laporta stated that the team is not currently strengthening, the Barcelona president is not ruling out the possibility of signings in January because they would still be operating under the 1/1 rule.
A new right-back is said to be top of the priority list, while Barça are also looking for midfield reinforcements, particularly a long-term replacement for captain Sergio Busquets. However, whether they sign anyone remains to be seen.
blogpay
Total Comments: 0