Following two hours of explanations, questions and brandishing of refereeing reports, Barcelona President Joan Laporta was approaching hoarseness when he retired from the stage. He had said a lot, with plenty of emotion, and made several waves, but there was a distinct feeling that those explanations had not answered all of the doubts about their relationship with Enriquez Negreira. Here are some of the key questions that Laporta still has to respond to.
Why were the reports done by the Negreiras?
Laporta defended the contracting of Enriquez Negreira and Javier Enriquez Romero, his son, by saying we saw that the reports were useful, quality reports carried out by qualified people. That is why they were maintained, and it is something normal for big clubs to do so. He also claimed that while it was billed to Enriquez Negreira, it was Enriquez Romero who was doing the work.
Yet that did not answer why Barcelona did not see the conflict of interests between Negreira senior and the club, when he could clearly spot it for Real Madrid members who took similar positions?
Why did the fees rise so dramatically?
Laporta defended the fact the fees went up during the final year of his mandate due to the number of games Barcelona were playing, with extra competitions. Yet the percentage rises do not correspond to the percentage of extra games that were taking place nor inflation – equally beyond Laporta’s mandate, it seems strange that the amounts should fluctuate so much.
What could Barcelona be the victim of?
On multiple occasions, he alluded to the fact that it may be found that Barcelona were the victim of someone or some organisation benefitting financially from the club. Asked after whether anyone might have taken money from the club’s account, he denied this too, citing that three businesses appeared on the club’s accounts after his mandate.
Yet Laporta defended the price of the reports as just, thus it could not be subject to a nefarious over-billing of the club. So what was he implying?
What will happen with the Superleague?
Joan Laporta started it, with his baseless claims of bias for Real Madrid, but Los Blancos poured gasoline on the fire with their response. Add into that the timid praise for UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin for not condemning Barcelona, it suggests that the Blaugrana may be trying to thaw relations with UEFA. Where does this conflict leave the Superleague project, and how would a large potential punishment from UEFA impact that?
What are the irregularities Negreira referred to?
Enriquez Negreira threatened Josep Maria Bartomeu with revealing all of the irregularities he knew about Barcelona when the latter stopped his employment in 2018. Laporta said he would not speak for others, and it may well be that he is unaware of what Negreira is talking about. Yet it remains one of the big questions as the process grinds on, which Bartomeu will surely be asked in court.
Read here five things that we did learn from the Caso Negreira press conference.
Why did the fees rise so dramatically?
Take a gander at “the report years” and crunch some numbers. Obviously the service in exchange for money got more expensive as it became larger in magnitude.