Laporta passes off rumours linking Mbappé to Barcelona

Joan Laporta was quick to cool rumours placing Kylian Mbappé in Barcelona's orbit, which emerged on Thursday night in a piece published by French sports daily, L'Équipe.

"Here, everybody is free to post messages or proclamations - as we all know, that's a part of football, and that the big clubs have an interest in signing the top players. But I am not going to enter into that, if you don't mind, because if I do, all it would do would be to harm the interests of our club (…) I hope that you understand that we prioritise the team before anything else, a team in which reinforcements have been made to every line. But what we are not going to start taking part in is praising players or looking for players who might overshadow the team. After the 0-4 [win against Real Madrid], Mbappé was linked to Barça - but that is all just part of football show business, I have got nothing else to say about it," the president told Mundo Deportivo in an interview which will be published in tomorrow's edition.

When asked whether Barcelona, considering the club's current financial situation, could enter the fray to sign Erling Haaland, Laporta replied: "I am not going to put the institution at risk with transfers which, we wouldn't do even if we were financially sound. We're not going to lose our minds and start going crazy. I'd like to put our club members' minds at rest and assure them that we will not be going mad by entering in an operation of that magnitude. The majority of players want to come to Barça, they like the club, the team, our philosophy, our way of working and the way we understand football. And that's a good thing, dsomething we are seeing on a regular basis. But they will need to adapt to Barça's salary levels and any transfer must be within the club's economic structure so that we can continue to sustain ourselves".