Font, Barça presidential candidate: “Real Madrid won’t be able to sign Haaland, but we will”

Víctor Font, leader of the “Nosaltres” platform, stopped by the Spanish SER Catalunya studios on Thursday to discuss the latest around Barcelona with just three days to go before the presidential election. The standout issue was his contact with Manchester City over a future move for Norwegian striker Erling Haaland.

Barça’s Font on Madrid, Haaland, Xavi...

On Real Madrid-City: “The days when Real Madrid get knocked out of the Champions League are some of the best of the season. I’m a Barça fan and, like any good Barça fan, anti-Madrid. I watched the game and couldn’t understand any of it, how a team that doesn’t play anything at all could be thrashing City. I barely even watched the second half.”

Haaland: “We’re looking beyond Barça in the short term. We’re talking about one of the best strikers in the world. In the short term he isn’t attainable, but these 10-year contracts are hard to see through. Erling loves Spain. I know Real Madrid want him too. We’re working to make sure he ends up with us, and we’re seeking a preferential option for the future. I’m convinced we’ll get it.

“They don’t want to sell Haaland, but they recognize it will be difficult to keep him in the medium to long term. Madrid will not be able to sign Haaland, but we will. Haaland sees Planchart as his second father. They met before the game.”

Guardiola: “He’s human and he can make mistakes. You have to look at the percentage of things he gets right and wrong, and his success here is beyond question. My relationship with him goes back a long way, to when he was on his sabbatical in New York. I’ve gradually built a good relationship with him. Pep has to be at our club to make us stronger, working in the sporting department. He would like to come full circle by working in the youth academy.”

Xavi: “Above all, he’s a Barça man, and he made an act of commitment to the club. Echevarría and Laporta deceived him and also deceived Messi, who, by the way, stands by each and every one of those words.”

Messi: “Leo has already taken a position, there will be no reconciliation with Laporta. I’ve spoken with the right people to carry out my project so Messi can return as soon as possible. Leo should be honorary president of the club, linking the Messi and Barça brands, like Nike with Michael Jordan, and with the possibility of a ‘last dance’ for six months. Although, from what I know, he has doubts about doing a ‘last dance.’”

Dein: “In this Barcelona of either with me or against me, it’s very difficult to speak. The vice president of marketing, Juli Guiu, had a middleman imposed on him, he refused, and he had to leave. He called me in the summer of 2024 to express his concern over the way Dein had been imposed. It’s not true that Nike is paying anything, it won’t put up a single dollar, it will take it out of the contract. The $54 million will be paid by Barcelona. It wasn’t only Guiu who explained this to me, but people who were in the negotiations as well.”

Alemany: “He’s a great professional. A shame we lost him. Jordi Cruyff left saddened because he felt belittled by the same people who wave the flag for Cruyffism.”

Deco: “He does not put Barça first. He is a trusted figure for Echevarría and Laporta. That’s why he won’t stay if we win.”

Sporting director: “There will be one person above everyone else in the sporting department, but we can’t announce it until Monday because he is still under contract.”

Bartomeu: “He wants change, Gaspart wants continuity. It is obvious that Bartomeu did things badly. I was one of the victims of his attacks.”

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