Barcelona presidential candidate Agustí Benedito gave an interview to Spanish football site Madrid-Barcelona.Laporta recently presented his book, in which he reports on something very serious, namely that mister Rosell told him, when Ronaldinho wasn't yet at Barça for one year, to sell the player to Chelsea for 100 million euros and that they were offered a 10% commission, this was 5 million for both of the them. Mister Laporta explains that, shocked by what Rosell proposed to him, he never reported it. Do you believe this?
What I believe is that we are dealing with an extremely serious event. We are talking about a president of Barça accusing a vice-president of having offered him a deal of around 1.700 million pesetas. I haven't been in a situation where a vice-president of mine could offer me something like that, but if he would do it I can assure you that he wouldn't stay in office for 24 hours. Therefore, the comments that I make are the following ones. First, why does Laporta maintains mister Rosell as vice-president? Second, why doesn't he inform the rest of the board of what happened? And third, why does he wait six years to make this public when this is a very serious matter? I also want to say another thing. I am very eager to hear the explanations of mister Rosell. Barcelona fans have a big problem at this moment. People do not know who to believe. All I can say is that if the allegations of mister Laporta are true I have only one wish: that a person like this will never be president of Barça.
Couldn't it be that mister Laporta is the one who is lying to torpedo his worst enemy and to help the continuity candidacy?
In Barcelona, where in recent days there has been a lot of discussion about this, it was told to me that the version of Rosell is just the opposite, namely that it was Laporta who made the proposal. If true, it would be equally bad that Rosell didn't denounce him. As a candidate, I am at this moment also very interested in the opinion of mister Jaume Ferrer, treasurer of the Barça board at the time and who I haven't yet heard. I wonder if he believes that Laporta's statements are true or if he thinks that Laporta is lying. It is very important for the club of today and the future that this issue would be resolved.
The media don't have a lot of attention for you. Wouldn't it be ideal for you to have a debate between mister Ferrer, mister Rosell and yourself or do you think they would never accept it?
I hope the club members will have the opportunity to live a debate between those who aspire to be president. I hope that the democratic spirit and the interest of communication will prevail over other types of more specific interests. I have the hope that the day will come when there will be a debate.
Do you think that the mainstream media, or some of them, are at the service of certain candidates?
I think it is clear that the two major media groups in Barcelona are positioned alongside one of the two main alternatives. Some defend the candidacy of Rosell and others defend the continuity candidacy. I don't think that I'm saying anything that is not a reality.
Image that one of the major media concerns is positioned at the side of Rosell and the other at your side. Would you win the elections?
I believe that, against all odds, we will win the elections. I think it will be important to discuss and to publicly compare our programs, maybe through some debates. It's true that the media are supporting other alternatives, but they have a problem: the media don't vote. Thank god, when there are elections, the one who votes is the club member, who is also the owner of Barça, and he has the last word. That will cause a surprise on 13 June.
Which percentage of the voters are according to you still undecided about whom to vote for?
We have some polls that tell us that 80% of the voters are not convinced of whom to vote for. Therefore, we consider these elections to be totally open. I think the vote will be decided in the last days of the campaign, as is usually the case. We think around 70.000 people could come out to vote on 13 June and therefore they will be open elections. In any case, I can confirm that we will far exceed the number of signatures needed. We are getting a lot of support, I would even say that the support is multiplying, and I can assure you that with absolute certainty we will be one of the maybe three people eligible to the office.
Finally, tell us what that third way of Agustí Benedito is.
Despite the interests there can be to make this a two-men race, we are absolutely confident that the elections are open, that the day will come when we will have the opportunity to talk about our project and to defend it against that of the other two. That will be the time when the member will finally have the opportunity to evaluate them and make his choice.
this was the third and last part of this interview.
Read the previous parts:
Benedito: "I do not feel bitter"
Benedito: "We're not choosing a sports director"
