Barcelona president Joan Laporta ‘will not risk the club over Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland’

Barcelona president Joan Laporta insisted his side will not sign Kylian Mbappe or Erling Haaland if it risks the team spirit at the club. 

The Catalans are one of the sided to have been heavily linked to both coveted strikers as the youngsters attract interest from across Europe. 

Barcelona will face stern competition from LaLiga rivals Real Madrid as they vie for the Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund strikers. 

Barcelona will not sign Kylian Mbappe (left) or Erling Haaland (right) if it risks the interests of the club, according to club president Joan Laporta

But Laporta refused to comment on the potential transfers, insisting that he would not harm the interests of the club.  

‘Here everyone is free to launch messages and proclamations and we already know that this is part of the world of football, that the big clubs are interested in great players,’ he told Mundo Deportivo.

‘But I’m not going to enter, and you have to allow me not to talk about players because if I do, the only thing I can do is harm the interests of our club.

‘If we talk about a player and we had the intention of signing him, we would increase the price.

Joan Laporta (above) insisted that he would not put the Catalan giants’ interests at risk 

‘Neither with this player nor with others do I want to comment on issues because it would harm the interests of the club.

‘The technical secretary and sports management are working to improve our squad, which is getting better and better, we are more and more satisfied.’

The club president made it clear Barcelona prioritised the team and would not make any player feel inferior to another. 

‘I want it to be clearly understood that we prioritise the team above all else, a reinforced team in each of its lines and what we do not participate in is elevating players or looking for players who are more than the team,’ he continued.

‘What we want to strengthen is the team we have that plays based on a genuine Barca system.

‘The club thinks that this is what the football team needs, this genuine style that for me is the key to everything and is what we have to do, a team that can play this system with highly talented players.’

The club president claimed that they are not looking for players who are ‘more than the team’

Barcelona have suffered massive financial woes this season with the club’s debt said to have racked up to £1.15billion, which forced Lionel Messi to leave the Nou Camp last summer.

Laporta stressed that he would not put the Catalan club at financial risk over a signing, insisting that players must be willing to adapt to Barcelona’s salary levels if they want to join. 

‘I insist, I will not talk about specific players but I can tell you that we will not carry out any operation that puts the institution at risk,’ he said.

‘It has been a maxim that we have followed since we became president again, it happened to us in various circumstances and we are going to continue with this philosophy, not to put the institution at risk with operations that, not even if we were already healthy, we would.

‘So, you can talk about players, about big-money operations in which Barca is not going to lose its head.

Laporta insisted Barcelona would not ‘lose its head’ over ‘big-money operations’

‘That the fans are calm because we are not going to lose our heads for an operation of these magnitudes.

‘Most of the players want to come to Barca, they like the club, the team, our philosophy, our way of working, of understanding football. And this is good, we are verifying it in many cases and daily.

‘They will have to adapt to the salary levels of Barça and to an economic structure of the operation that maintains the sustainability and balance of the club.’

Mbappe’s current contract with PSG is set to expire in the summer and is currently free to agree a pre-contract agreement with clubs outside of France.

Real Madrid were said to have three bids for the World Cup winner rejected last summer and could return for him at the end of the season.

Meanwhile, the club’s across the upper echelons of Europe are ready to pounce as Haaland’s £68million release clause comes into effect in summer.