Barcelona president criticises January signing for ‘not scoring goals’

According to a surprise revelation made on Joan Fontes' Podcast, Barcelona president Joan Laporta criticised January signing Ferran Torres for his lack of goals since joining.

The Spanish international arrived at Camp Nou during the winter transfer window from Manchester City in a deal worth around €55 million initial fees with €10 million in add-ons.

The 22-year-old finished with a tally of six goals and six assists from 24 matches across all competitions for Barça.

While he made a valuable contribution to the club's second-place finish in La Liga, Torres was also guilty of missing several gilt-edged chances, which saw him draw a lot of ire from some sections of supporters.

Indeed, the former Valencia ace's finishing left a lot to be desired on occasions and it seems like his profligacy and lack of clinical edge in front of goal did not escape the notice of Barcelona president Joan Laporta.

As told on the podcast, Laporta criticised Torres in front of a few journalists, saying: “I like Pep and Txiki, but those bastards sold us Ferran Torres, when he can't score goals.”

It is further claimed that the videos of Laporta making those statements in front of the journalists had to be deleted. It will be interesting to see what the Barcelona supremo has to say about this revelation.

The criticism towards Torres' lack of goals is not unfounded, though. That is an area that the Spanish international must address before the upcoming season, especially with there set to be added competition for places if Barcelona go ahead and sign Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha.