Soccer-We make Ballon d'Or winners, others buy them: Barca chief

Thu Jul 9, 2009 10:22am BST
 
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* Laporta calm in face of Real's aggressive team-building

* Samuel Eto'o's future unresolved

* Barca pushing to sign Valencia's David Villa

MADRID, July 9 (Reuters) - Barcelona president Joan Laporta has taken a swipe at arch-rivals Real Madrid for their multi-million euro spending spree that has dominated the headlines and the transfer market ahead of the treble-winners.

The return of Florentino Perez to the Real presidency has sparked a flurry of activity in Madrid with over 200 million euros spent on the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka, while Barca's summer strengthening plans appear stalled.

"We make Ballon d'Or winners and others have to buy them. It's fine by me that Real have bought Cristiano Ronaldo but at present Barcelona are the point of reference for everyone," Laporta told Spanish state television.

"Real have erupted aggressively into the transfer market and distorted reality. We could go into debt like Madrid but it isn't our way of operating.

"We already have a competitive team and all we want to do is to make some prudent investments."

He said coach Pep Guardiola has asked for reinforcements at full back, centreback, in midfield and a striker, and admitted the club were no nearer to resolving the future of Samuel Eto'o.  Continued...

 

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