Barcelona set date for Joan Laporta to give Caso Negreira explanations

Barcelona President Joan Laporta will finally give explanations about El Caso Negreira to the public, according to multiple reports.

Since the news broke two months ago that Barcelona had been making payments to the former Vice-President of the Referees Committee Enriquez Negreira for 17 years amounting to €6.7m, the pressure has been on Barcelona to provide an explanation as to why.

In the meantime the Anti-Corruption Department are now investigating the matter, while UEFA have also opened an investigation into the payments. For their part, Barcelona have maintained that they are innocent of buying referees, and accused the relevant parties of a campaign against the club. He had also promised a press conference explaining the matter.

It appears there will finally be a response from the club. MD have reported that the much awaited press conference is to take place at 11:00 CEST on Monday the 17th of April. Sport have corroborated that report.

According to Barcelona journalist Joan Fontes, Laporta held a run-through of the event last week, where Laporta struggled to answer some questions definitively. Thus they decided to delay it from this week.

With potential UEFA sanctions on the way, and the investigation from the Anti-Corruption department likely watching closely, it could shape the future of Barcelona. The Blaugrana do not have much cash to spare currently, and any sanctions could impact the club in a major way.