Joan Laporta has taken another step towards convincing Lionel Messi to stay on board the Barcelona ship with a blueprint of a winning project.
A delay in the presidential elections at Barcelona means they will be unable to sign players this month. Despite this, Laporta remains optimistic about keeping Messi at the club. He revealed that the Argentine is looking for an environment where he can win titles and money is a secondary aspect for him.
Diario GOL claims that the 58-year-old has presented his blueprint to Messi. Laporta plans on getting rid of players who are not capable of improving the club, including Clement Lenglet and Sergio Busquets, with the duo’s performances not deemed suitable to Barcelona’s demands.
Antoine Griezmann will also be shown the door, just two years into his Barcelona career. He has arguably failed to meet expectations since joining from Atletico Madrid and gel in with the team.
Eric Garcia will be the potential president’s first signing as a free agent. Laporta is also looking to bring in Arsenal’s Hector Bellerin at right-back. He has also made no secret of his interest in signing Erling Braut Haaland from Borussia Dortmund.
The trio would certainly improve the Barcelona team substantially although in the case of Haaland there will be a hefty price tag as well.
If Laporta is elected president, he will not keep Ronald Koeman as manager. The Dutchman is on the verge of guiding Barcelona to the first trophy in over 18 months. However, he will be shown the door regardless of his achievements. The former chief has his sights on master tactician Julian Nagelsmann, who is currently on the books of RB Leipzig.
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While Laporta remains ambitious and certainly has the experience to guide Barca back to its glory days, this report focuses on what would ‘please’ Messi, not what would benefit Barcelona the most. Almost all of the club’s presidential candidates, including Laporta, are forgetting that the player is in his final years as a footballer.
Instead, the club must now focus on planning for life after him. Their over-reliance on Messi has been there to see and is one of the reasons for the eventual decline of the club. Though the Argentine’s hole may be the biggest to fill, Barcelona requires an injection of fresh faces in several areas, and it will not happen if they focus on just one player’s happiness.
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