Barça playing the victims of a bullish transfer market
Albert Soler griped: "The same rules should apply for everyone. Some aren't playing fair. Barça is economically sound because of the decisions we have made".
There was no self criticism from Barcelona following what turned out to be a very frustrating transfer window for the club's supporters, but not for executives who feel that they acted responsibily for refusing to be seduced by a market which has gone off the rails.
That was how events over the summer were explained by Barça's Sports Directors today - Albert Soler even suggested that the Blaugranas have been hard done by in a bullish market as he delievered his analysis of the club's trading deals to the media alongside Robert Fernández.
Changing rules in football transfer dealing
“The world of football has changed during the last two years. Before, even mentioning 100 million euros for a player would have been seen as madness but look what happened with [Paul] Pogba. This year we have found ourselves confronting a format which is very different to the one we are used to. Tradtional clubs are no longer the main players in the market - now it's countries and investment funds. The limits should be made clear. A club like Barça, with 155,000 club members must be managed coherently and responsibly", Soler resumed.
Barcelona acted responsibly says Soler
Whether asked if Barça had not themselves contributed to stoking an already inflated market by spending 147 million on Ousmane Dembélé, Soler replied: “It's true that we brokered the most expensive signing in our club's history but that was an operation which doesn't put the club's future at risk. Dembélé represents the present and the future of this club. Today's logic made us pay that figure but we could not be sat here today after having paid 272 million euros for two players - that would have been utterly irresponsible. We would have been forced to resign. I can understand the opinion of our club members but we will see the consequences of the work we have done at the end of the season. The club is economically sound because of the decisions we have made; we will come out of this stronger”.
