Joan Laporta takes the arrival of Nico Williams for granted

Joan Laporta in his purest form. That's what the 185 members of Barça's senate, a body made up of the 1,000 oldest members, witnessed at this year's ordinary meeting, during which he gave his introductory speech. The president openly contradicted LaLiga president Javier Tebas, asserting that the club remains within the 1:1 rule of financial fair play , and that this, in turn, will allow for both an imminent signing (that of Joan García , made official this Wednesday) and "a very exciting signing" that is reportedly in the final stretch. In this case, he is referring to Nico Williams, who was already rumored last year and is very close to becoming a reality this summer. Although, of course, he wasn't named openly.

"We've worked hard to achieve financial recovery. Adjusting the salary margin has allowed us to comply with the 1:1 rule granted by LaLiga. We achieved it last year; it was very tight, but we did. They proved us right in our arguments, which is why we were able to register Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor , even though they put many obstacles in our way, and now we can sign normally, without being intervened by LaLiga. We're close to announcing an imminent arrival and we have a very exciting signing in the pipeline," said the Barça president, who praised the work carried out by his board to, as he insisted, get their numbers back in balance.

Not surprisingly, he hinted that this season's revenue would reach around €950 million, despite the club's forced exile on Montjuïc for the second consecutive season, and he assured that next year's revenue budget will exceed €1 billion.

Pilot test at Gamper

The good play and titles won by Hansi Flick 's team, in this case, would also have been reflected financially. "We've earned 44 million euros more in ticket sales and we've also had more television revenue for reaching the Champions League semi-finals. On the commercial front, we signed the best sports kit contract in history with Nike, and that will allow us to exceed 260 million euros this year in sponsorship revenue. And, in terms of merchandising, the opening to international e-commerce has allowed us to reach around 140 or 150 million euros this year," Laporta emphasized.

The Barça leader assured that the team will return to playing official matches at the new Spotify Camp Nou in September, with a pilot test on August 10 at the Joan Gamper Tournament, with a reduced capacity. He also didn't want to forget the movements of those who oppose his management from within the club. "One of our pillars is that we will never be a SAD (Sociedad Social de la Defensa y Justicia). Perhaps those who warn so much about this are the ones who truly intend to do so. I've heard that refrain for a long time, although it seems that now, with everything we've achieved, it's stopped," he concluded.