Everyone connected with Barcelona has an agenda.
For example, Albert Perrin served as a director under former club president Joan Laporta, who is edging ever closer to officially declaring his candidacy for next year’s elections.
Therefore, it’s hardly surprising that Perrin has publicly criticised the current administration, which is headed by Josep Maria Bartomeu, who recorded a landslide victory over Laporta in 2015.
However, Perrin spoke for a lot of Barcelona fans in March when he told Marca, “The future of the club scares me a lot. There are so many things that they’ve done badly at Barcelona.
“This board of directors only know how to sell to make the accounts work. They don’t think about the sporting side of things.”
Bartomeu’s bizarre transfer policy would certainly support that claim.
Thirty-six players have arrived at Camp Nou since he succeeded Sandro Rosell as president in 2014, at a cost of approximately €1.067 billion (£955m/$1.16bn).
Only two could be considered unqualified success stories: Luis Suarez and Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Samuel Umtiti was undoubtedly a fine signing but has now been deemed surplus to requirements having been plagued by knee problems for the past two years.
Ousmane Dembele has obvious world-class potential but is even more injury-prone than his fellow Frenchman, meaning Barca would now accept half of the initial €105m (£92m/€115m) they paid Borussia Dortmund for his services in 2017.
Bartomeu can hardly be blamed for players being blighted by fitness problems, while last summer’s two major signings, Antoine Griezmann and Frenkie de Jong, could yet prove value for money.
However, even those deals provoke the same question: why spend big on a player that you’re not going to play in his best position? Continue reading