Raphinha reacted this Tuesday to the imbroglio around Dani Olmo and Pau Victor, still not registered with FC Barcelona for the end of the season. The Catalan team captain has confirmed he would think twice before joining a club with such financial difficulties.
Deprived of matches until further notice, Dani Olmo and Pau Victor continue to train with the rest of the Barça group. Hansi Flick also took the two players in his group for the Spanish Super Cup played in Saudi Arabia. On the eve of the duel against Bilbao in the semi-final, Raphinha showed his support for his two teammates.
“It’s a fairly complicated situation for us and for them,” judged the captain of the Blaugrana team during his visit to a press conference and quoted by the Sport newspaper. “It's complicated and tricky, but we're trying to make sure it's not so difficult for them. Hopefully this can be resolved as quickly as possible.”
Optimism reigns on the management side
Still not registered in La Liga, the fault of Barça's financial concerns and the intransigence of the League and the Spanish football federation, Dani Olmo and Pau Victor still do not know if they will be able to play again this season.
“The truth is that it is a complicated situation, only those who are in this situation can tell you what they feel or what they can decide. It is a situation where they have to wait to see what will happen pass,” continued the Brazilian winger. “At the club they tell us that they are convinced that things will be resolved as quickly as possible, but it is a complicated situation for Dani and Pau it is difficult to manage this situation.”
Raphinha would think seriously before signing for Barça
The situation is all the more complicated for Dani Olmo as the Spanish playmaker has a clause to freely leave the Catalan club during the month of January if President Joan Laporta fails to register him.
If, so far, the player bought from Leipzig during the last summer transfer window continues to remain loyal to Barça, the situation could change by the end of the month. In front of journalists, Raphinha confirmed that he would not automatically sign for the Catalan club if he was on the market at the moment.
“If I were at another club and I saw the situation that Pau and Dani were experiencing, I would surely wonder if I signed here or at another club,” conceded the 28-year-old Auriverde international. “But when I signed for Barça, I knew the club's situation, I saw that I had a percentage chance of playing with this jersey. I waited until the last moment and I don't regret anything.”
An intense discussion between Laporta and Raphinha
Words that Joan Laporta would only have moderately appreciated. According to images captured by the Spanish media, the president of Barça exchanged a few words with the Brazilian on the pitch in Jeddah before the Barcelona group trained.
If the exact content of the comments made by the Blaugrana president has not been filtered, the Spanish daily newspapers explained that this discussion of around a minute allowed the leader to gently reprimand Raphinha after his statements to the press.
When the journalists present on site questioned the captain about a possible annoyance of Joan Laporta, Raphinha simply replied: “Why? I didn't tell a lie.”
