In a video published by FC Barcelona, club president Laporta discussed transfer negotiations for Álvarez and the events that occurred last Sunday in Elche.

Laporta's full statement:

First, I want to emphasize that we have absolute respect for Atlético Madrid. We also maintain deep personal friendships with their management, as we have known each other for many years.

I hope to clarify what happened. FC Barcelona submitted a formal offer to Atlético Madrid. I then personally confirmed this offer in a private phone call with Miguel Ángel Gil, Atlético Madrid's CEO.

He told me at the time that they had no intention of selling because they had no replacement for Álvarez.

I replied to him: "Listen, we are indeed very interested in this player, and we fully respect your decision not to sell. But if you find a replacement during the summer window, we remain interested in signing him."

After that, Deco and I discussed the matter, and since they didn't want to sell, we decided to put the matter on hold for now, because in principle they had no replacement, so we couldn't sign him.

But what happened next? The club received information that Atlético Madrid was negotiating with other clubs to sell the player.

When we learned this, we believed our proposal and offer remained valid, especially since it's well known that the player is very keen to join FC Barcelona.

This situation caused quite a stir, but it was in no way caused by FC Barcelona's actions. Rather, it was because they had previously told us they wouldn't sell, but now it appears, at least based on the information we received, that they are trying to reach an agreement with other clubs.

So we reached out to Enrique Cerezo, Atlético Madrid's president, through trusted intermediaries.

Enrique Cerezo then made some statements. With all due respect to Enrique, whom I greatly admire, I want to say that FC Barcelona has always acted correctly in this matter.

We treat Atlético Madrid the same as any other club. For example, when we previously negotiated with Manchester City, we also asked other clubs if they would be willing to sell a particular player, and when they said they wouldn't sell, we dropped the matter.

In this case, however, the situation is special because we received information that Atlético Madrid intended to sell the player to other clubs.

For this reason, FC Barcelona continues to pursue this process, and our offer remains valid through the end of the transfer window in case Atlético Madrid ultimately decides to sell the player.

In fact, we are very interested in this player and hope our offer will be accepted. We are making this proposal with absolute respect for Atlético Madrid. If they are willing to sell during this summer window, they should know that we are ready to sign the player at the price we previously offered.

Next, a tribute event will take place at Thursday night's match against Athletic Bilbao, during which the Estelada will be displayed.

As everyone knows, the Estelada represents the views of many FC Barcelona fans and Catalans.

Spain is defined as a social and democratic rule of law, and freedom of expression is a fundamental right guaranteed by the Spanish Constitution.

In this sense, displaying or showing the Estelada falls entirely within the scope of freedom of expression.

The Estelada expresses the desire for freedom and the will to pursue freedom held by many FC Barcelona fans and Catalans.

Therefore, I believe this should be respected because this will is part of freedom of expression. Moreover, it is a peaceful form of expression that incites neither violence nor hatred.

In my opinion, the Estelada should be respected because it represents our desire for freedom. Just as all other symbols that express a particular viewpoint should also be respected, as long as they are displayed peacefully, without violence, and without hatred.

FC Barcelona firmly rejects and condemns the excessive violence by the National Police, who previously attacked an FC Barcelona member wearing an Estelada before the match against Elche.

In response, we have fully supported this member, this young man and his family, and helped them resolve all the issues they faced in this incident.

Therefore, FC Barcelona demands and firmly believes that this excessive and violent act, carried out by certain members of the National Police, must be properly punished and sanctioned once the facts are established—that is, once the video footage from the scene has made everything very clear and explained everything.

Our goal is very clear: we hope and wish that through appropriate punishment of those responsible and the tribute event with the Estelada at Spotify Camp Nou this Thursday, this issue can be resolved once and for all, so that FC Barcelona fans and Catalans can freely display the Estelada without fear of threats to their personal safety.

We also hope this will end the demonization and stigmatization of the Estelada by national security and police forces once and for all.

No, our board, the committee that I have the honor of chairing, decided that this tribute will not take place.

We had planned a tribute for FC Barcelona players who won the World Cup, which was proposed to us by the Spanish Football Federation.

However, due to the current context, circumstances, and the inappropriate timing, we decided not to hold the event. We informed the Spanish Football Federation of this decision, and they fully understand.

The event will not take place because we believe football should play a unifying role, rather than being used to create opposition and conflict, which currently benefits no one.

Übersetzt von KI.

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