Every day there are news regarding the Negreira case. It has now transpired that the Barcelona Prosecutor’s Office has asked the examining magistrate to summon to testify as witnesses Luis Enrique already ernesto valverde, since both were the coaches of the Barça team between 2014 and 2018, which are the ones that the Public Ministry denounced, ensuring that Barcelona tried to influence the decisions of the referees. This would explain the payments that the Catalan club made to former referee José María Enriquez Negreira, who was then the vice president of the CTA and number two of the collegiate. Information provided by ‘El País’ ensures that the two coaches have been summoned as witnesses.
It must be taken into account that Luis Enrique was first team coach of Barcelona between 2014 and 2017. Three years full of numerous national and international successes. Before, he had been the coach of the subsidiary, between 2008 and 2011. The former national coach was relieved precisely by Ernesto Valverde, who during the three years that he was on the bench (2017-2020) continued with the hegemony of successes at the state level, although the decline was apparent in Europe.
As those years are what are being investigated, the prosecution He wants to know if the supposed arbitration reports for which Barcelona paid were real, which meant that they had to be aware of their existence. Valverde, the current Athletic coach, already pointed out that he never received that information from the club.
Valverde’s reflection
Valverde He stated when asked about it that he never saw those arbitration reports when he was at Barcelona. “It catches us a bit far away, well it catches me, and it will clear up,” he explained at a press conference. The Athletic coach was surprised when the Negreira case exploded: “We don’t have all the data, we have to be cautious, let’s see where all this is going. It has been a surprise Also for me,” he said.
However, the coach from Extremadura was very clear when asked if the League won in 2018 was a gift (it was the last year in which the managers paid Enríquez Negreira). “We won the League with 14 points over the second and the Cup 5-0 in the final against Sevilla. I don’t think there was much discussion about who was the best team that season,” he explained.