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FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta unleashes fury on Dro Fernandez's agent, calling the PSG transfer "a betrayal and a disgrace."

A candidate for his own reelection as president of FC Barcelona, Joan Laporta, spoke to Jijantes two days before the vote by club members and again discussed the winter transfer of Dro Fernandez to PSG, which still doesn't sit well.

A great hope for FC Barcelona, Dro Fernandez signed with PSG this winter in a transfer estimated at around 8 million euros, slightly more than his release clause set at 6 million. A very attractive price, nonetheless, for such a promising 18-year-old player to whom Hansi Flick had given five matches since the start of the season.

Barça and its German coach naturally took this departure hard and blamed the player's agent, Ivan de la Peña (also Luis Enrique's agent), more than PSG. This Friday, two days before the elections for the Barça presidency, Joan Laporta spoke about this matter to the Catalan media outlet Jijantes.

The candidate for his own reelection was thus asked about his closeness to agent Pini Zahavi, whom his detractors often criticized. Laporta replied that he has good relationships with many agents and took the opportunity to settle scores with Dro Fernandez's agent.

"Thanks to Jorge Mendes, we managed to keep Lamine [Yamal], and we didn't suffer the same fate as with 'Lo Pelat' [Iván de la Peña's nickname], because of whom Dro left for PSG. If Jorge Mendes had had Dro, this wouldn't have happened," Laporta lamented, before adding: "It was a betrayal and a disgrace. I felt sorry for Hansi Flick. We had a special relationship with De la Peña, given his past with Barça, and I experienced it as a stab in the back."

Laporta indeed blames De la Peña for having promised him an extension of Dro's contract, only to then go to Paris in the middle of the season. The voluble Catalan president also took the opportunity to once again exonerate PSG and thank them for having agreed to pay a little more than the release clause amount: "Thanks to our relationship with the president of PSG, we reached a market agreement, with more money than expected, to maintain cordial relations between our two clubs and I am grateful to him for that."

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