Former Barcelona President Joan Laporta does not believe that the club "will end up quitting La Liga for France's Ligue 1 should Catalonia gain independence," according to Mark Rodden of ESPN. Laporta said it was "unlikely that Barcelona would want to quit La Liga." He said, "I don't think so because the Spanish league is very interesting with Barcelona and Real Madrid. The Clásico is of great value to La Liga and I think all of us will be very intelligent together in order to maintain the status quo of the Iberian league between the states of Catalonia and Spain. With humility, I'd say that Barça are too strong and if the Spanish league don't want Barça I think we will be able to play in several nearby leagues like the French, the Italian or the Premier League" (ESPN, 10/29). In Madrid, Juan Jiménez reported Laporta attacked the current Barcelona board for the "recent leaks surrounding a possible move" for Neymar to ManU. He said, "The club's financial position isn't great at present and I feel that, in a need to balance the books, Bartomeu will be forced to sell players or other assets. The ideal solution is to sell one of the big name players" (AS, 10/29).
MASCHERANO ADMITS GUILT: The BBC reported Barcelona's Javier Mascherano "admitted two counts of fraud" totaling just over €1.5M. State prosecutors said that the Argentine defender failed to declare €1.5M in earnings in '11 and '12. He admitted to the charges in a court appearance in Gava, near Barcelona, lasting less than five minutes (BBC, 10/29).
