Barcelona president Joan Laporta sends a clear message to super-agents Jorge Mendes and Pini Zahavi
Barcelona president Joan Laporta has admitted he is 'friends' with super-agents Jorge Mendes and Pini Zahavi, but he also told them to stop stopping him managers until they reach a conclusion to the era of Xavi Hernandez.
Laporta seemed to hint that Xavi had not really made a decisive decision on his future, despite the fact that he publicly announced that he would leave at the end of the season. Understandably, speculation has been rife about the next coach. With recently hired Hansi Flick Zahavi as his agent, many saw it as a move to take advantage of the Israeli agent's relationship with Laporta, and a potential route to work.
Speaking to MD, Laporta responded with “What do you think?” when he was asked if Mendes and Zahavi had launched coaches.
“In addition to the great professionals, I am a friend of Pini and Jorge Mendes. They are the agents that I know more than my past. I have a very good relationship with them, but they know what I said, “don't insist on me because we will be with Xavi until the end”. We will wait for Xavi's decision and then we will see”.
Laporta: “I love Luis Enrique even if we haven't talked to anyone. Pini Zahavi insists on Flick, but whoever wants to come will have to wait until the end. We won't do anything until Xavi makes the decision. .”
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“If they don't wait, then they don't wait. We have to continue our way and be consistent with this formula that we have adopted, which for the moment is working and I don't think it is due to luck, but due to the experience that Xavi has in these matters, who saw that this formula could be useful and good for the maturation process of this team.”
He went on to give a general assessment of the state of play for the Blaugrana.
“We continue to deal with injuries. The other day four starters did not play: Frenkie, Pedri, Cancelo and Balde. And he was replaced with players like Sergi Roberto, who has the touch, Gundogan is sensational, Fermin is splendid to enter the box and have goals. Robert is a professional and always gives us something. He was the first one who was angry for not performing as we did in the previous season, but he made an important effort. He is a man who he takes great care of his physique and now scores or gives an assist in every game. I'm not even talking about the defense, which is a unit now with Cubarsi, Araujo, Christensen as a pivot, Hector Fort, at 17, which I they say he is already a player.
As for Mendes, Porto coach Sergio Conceicao is one of his clients who has been suggested, while Zahavi has also worked as an intermediary for Bayern Munich's Thomas Tuchel. Ronald Araujo's agents have been seen in talks with Barcelona in recent weeks, but they also represent Brighton coach Roberto de Zerbi, another who has been linked with the job.
