Joan Laporta was decidedly cryptic when addressing reports linking Barcelona with Liverpool’s Mo Salah.
The comments come courtesy of RAC1, as relayed in a tweet by Fabrizio Romano, in a time where both attackers are attracting the wandering eyes of Europe’s elite.
Barça president Laporta about Salah and Robert Lewandowski: "Top players want to join Barça, that's clear", he told RAC1 🔴 #FCB
"I can't say if we're in talks for Lewandowski and Salah or not – or into the club they'll tell me that I'm creating problems in the negotiations". pic.twitter.com/nA346kf5mJ
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) March 28, 2022
With the Egyptian international’s current terms set to expire in the summer of 2023, that’s certainly more than understandable.
We’ll be facing a rather challenging scenario come the end of the campaign if talks have still yet to progress since the latter end of 2021: capitalise on our No.11’s remaining value or hold on and get another season out of the world’s leading star.

Our feeling is that the latter will be a far more palatable option for Jurgen Klopp and the club’s executives should the worst come to pass, though it’s certainly no comfort to fans desperate to see the wide man put pen to paper.
Ultimately, of course, the bounds of our wage structure must be respected to a certain degree lest we wish to follow the dangerous spiral to financial collapse that took hold of Barcelona during the height of the pandemic.
#Ep42 of The Empire of the Kop Podcast: Is Jota underappreciated? FA failing fans… and more!