Tebas: “Laporta has not clarified anything about the ‘Negreira case’ and has not convinced the clubs”

2023-04-19 15:55:37

“Laporta has had 20 minutes to give explanations about the ‘Negreira case’, he has not clarified anything and he has not convinced the clubs,” the president of LaLiga, Javier Tebas, acknowledged this Wednesday after the extraordinary assembly of the club association to analyze the millionaire payments from Barcelona to the former vice president of the referees for 18 years. “Laporta has made a summary of what we heard on Monday (at the press conference offered by the Barça president at the Camp Nou) and he has not convinced his explanations, so this will continue in Spain in court and abroad in UEFA”, Tebas added in reference to the biggest scandal in the history of Spanish football.

“Laporta has defended that the payments to Negreira were not intended to buy referees or influence, and the vast majority of the clubs have said that this was not normal or usual and that the payments should be investigated. They have also stressed that the appearance of LaLiga in the criminal case is not a matter for Thebes, but for the delegated commission,” stressed the top leader of the club employers’ association, who personally told the president of Barcelona “that the ‘case Negreira’ is unintelligible and they are not sufficient explanations». “The doubts as to why 7.1 million euros were paid to the Negreira family have not been resolved,” Tebas admitted, after the Barça president left the LaLiga headquarters without making any statements.

«I don’t think that Barcelona bought referees, but we believe that there is an indication that they wanted to influence something. Only the intention can already be punishable conduct. The conduct is very serious and it is not clarified,” Tebas insisted, for whom Laporta’s intervention before the rest of the clubs was “very polite and not so much of an embrace of the flag.” “He has called me irresponsible, but I have told him that taking part in the case was an agreement of the delegated commission,” Tebas reiterated after a meeting that Florentino Pérez did not attend.

It was the general manager of Real Madrid, José Ángel Sánchez, who represented Barça’s eternal rival who has appeared as a private prosecution in the ‘Negreira case’. “I did not expect Florentino Pérez, because he has not come for years, and he does not mean anything to LaLiga,” Tebas settled. The top leader of the employers’ association also revealed that the white club did not intervene during the assembly, after the recent controversy generated by the video about the ‘regime team’ with which Real Madrid replied to Laporta after accusing the president of Barça to target of being favored by Francoism. I didn’t like what Joan said. He has diverted attention, but to dust that off… Dinosaurs existed, too. It does not contribute anything », he settled with respect to the video produced by the official television of the Madrid entity.

The president of LaLiga also announced that the employers have asked the Barcelona court that is studying the ‘Negreira case’ that the son of the former vice president of the referees be investigated, “because there are indications that he participated in the events.” “LaLiga cannot look the other way on this issue,” insisted Tebas, who again recalled the case of the Osasuna leaders who ended up in jail for sports corruption.