Barcelona president admits meeting with Ronaldo’s agent, while answering questions about de Jong and others

If anyone is definitely not bored, it’s Joan Laporta, who as president of Catalan side FC Barcelona is overseeing the rebuilding of a team hampered by massive debt. Yet every day there is new speculation in the media about new purchases and sales. What is his take on the speculation about Cristiano Ronaldo, Frenkie de Jong and others?

Journalists had the opportunity to ask Laporta at a press conference to introduce new midfielder Franck Kessie, who has newly joined the club, along with Andreas Christensen.

Most of all, of course, everyone was interested in the Manchester United striker, who didn’t turn up for the next training day and is rumoured to have asked the club for a release.

“I met Jorge Mendes for dinner on Monday and we talked about transfers in general. Cristiano? I’m not going to talk about the players we discussed in the meeting. But it’s always good to know about the names that are on the market,” Laporta told a press conference published by Marca.

Another big question mark is the transfer of de Jong, who is of great interest to Manchester United, where Erik ten Hag would like to bring him. According to the English media, an official offer has already been made by the Red Devils, but according to the following words of the president of the Catalan club, there is a certain sense of waiting to see how the other transfers turn out.

“He’s a Barcelona player and if we don’t have to, we won’t sell him. We don’t want Frenkie to leave. We know he has offers from other clubs, but we are not discussing selling him now,” Laporta said.

Ousmane Dembélé is another big topic. Laporta admitted at the press conference that negotiations are still ongoing as Barcelona would like to extend his contract, but so far they can’t. There are probably more such players and so the club’s management currently have to play a truly masterful game of chess.

One who hasn’t been talked about much was Clement Lenglet, whose arrival is being finalised by Tottenham, according to the Daily Mail. Everything is reportedly already agreed and the French stopper will have a medical in the coming days.

Source: FC Barcelona, Marca, Daily Mail, Goal