Barcelona will hold their annual Christmas dinner on Thursday evening, which involves all of the club’s employees. While they had not been required to in previous years, the first team will eat side-by-side with the rest of the workforce.
According to Sport, Laporta has expressly asked manager Xavi Hernandez to guarantee the presence of all of the first team players as far as possible. Previously it was tradition for the senior side to attend these dinners during Laporta’s first mandate in charge of the club, but had not been common under Josep Maria Bartomeu or Sandro Rosell.
Still waiting on some of their players to return from the World Cup, Memphis Depay, Frenkie de Jong, Jules Kounde, Ousmane Dembele will be exempt as they have more of their holiday to come. The Dutch duo are set to return at the end of this week.
It’s a move from Laporta that in theory will help improve spirit at the club. The rest of the club will feel closer to the players, while the players would hopefully feel they are part of something bigger than just their team. In theory, at least.
