‘Guardiola Still Wanted By Barcelona’ – Laporta Reveals

Former Barcelona president Joan Laporta said he will seek to bring former manager Pep Guardiola back to Barcelona if his bid to return as president of the La Liga club in 2021 is successful, Spanish media reported.

Joan Laporta and Pep Guardiola. Photo credit: youtube.com

Laporta was Barcelona president from 2003 to 2010 and was at the helm when Guardiola was promoted from the youth team to manager of the senior team in 2008.

Guardiola is under contract at Manchester City until June 2021 but his future is in doubt after UEFA handed the club a two-year ban from European competition for breaching Financial Fair Play rules, a ruling City have appealed.

According to Laporta “I would be very pleased to have Pep back, but he’s at City now and it’s a decision that would be down to him,” Laporta said. “He’s a reference point for everyone associated with Barcelona and I think many fans would be thrilled if he came back to coach the club again.

“I’m working on my candidacy. I’ve been club president before and I’d like to take on that role again. The situation at Barça in 2021 will be dramatic and we will have to turn things around.”

Barcelona won 14 trophies including three league titles and the Champions League twice — during Guardiola’s reign before his exit in 2012.

Spanish football is currently suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic but Barcelona have been in turmoil since six directors resigned in April in protest at the way the club was being run.

Joan Laporta is back on the scene in Barcelona and that can only spell bad news for fans of the club.

Synonymous with the unprecedented success of the Pep Guardiola era, this Catalan lawyer is one slippery customer. Perhaps even more so than his much-derided successor Sandro Rosell.

The trophies that were won during his tenure as president of the club seem to have conveniently glossed over the incredible financial mismanagement during his time at Camp Nou.

Let’s be clear. Rosell himself deserved to fall on his own sword and his “whiter than white” election campaign was a little embarrassing, to say the least.