The beautiful words of the last savior of Barça

Barcelona"I'm lucky enough to know the suppliers I should know. And I don't know this one." This statement belongs to one of the many Barça employees who attended the Sports Tomorrow Congress on Tuesday, the days that the club is organising at the Mobile World Congress. There were only a few minutes left before the start of the talk by Ruslan Birladeanu, the founder of the company that is to develop the Barça Mobile telecommunications operator, and this Barça employee, with more information and context than most of the attendees, did not convey too many guarantees about what the audience was going to suspect about the League in the context of the race to sign Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor.

Birladeanu wore the same outfit he had worn on the opening day of the MWC. A dark blue suit, a tie in Barça colours and a pin with the club's crest on his lapel. Standing next to him, with a more tense expression than his father, Andrei Birladeanu, who has also done business with the entity in recent months, He was wearing a Barça scarf. But only Ruslan went up on stage to try to explain, in English that was somewhere between passable and passable, what the project is that has earned him the title of "world leader in connectivity and infrastructure integration" by Barça despite not having any previous experience accredited on any official channel. He was accompanied by Bryan Bachner, head of Barça Vision, and Miriam Ferrando, the club's CIO.

There was anticipation to hear Birladeanu's explanations. Dozens of professionals from the sector, specialist journalists and general media were ready to hear the reflections of the clucking telecommunications expert. There was also a large screen that speakers on other topics had used to detail and organise their presentations. However, the Moldovan businessman's presentation was staged as a talk led by Bachner, with a single slide - the initial one, with the faces and positions of the three participants - and few technical details in a context that was precisely propitious for having offered them. "To talk about technology I need more time. We are just starting out now. The surprises will come," answered Birladeanu, questioned by Bachner, who at times seemed to ask more than his interlocutor could answer. As if he were not an accomplice.

No reference to MasOrange, the key to connectivity

"There are millions of fans who love Barça and who will be able to stay connected to the club through Barça Mobile," repeated the new Barça supplier several times, hired behind the back of the club's commercial department and provided only with a tablet so as not to lose the thread of his empty explanations at the MWC. "Barça is the symbol of Barcelona and we will give the opportunity to those who visit the city to connect with the club," reasoned Birladeanu, who did not provide any previous experience in the implementation of 5G technology in venues for thousands of people similar to the future Camp Nou. "The stadium means energy, connection. Barça Mobile must feed the feeling that Barça is a family," proclaimed the Moldovan businessman, who also did not detail what synergies he will weave with MasOrange, the company that will allow Espai Barça to satisfy the connectivity needs of millions of members, fans and tourists. In fact, he did not mention the multinational that beat Telefónica and Cellnex even once.

Birladeanu, who also admits to having paid 28 million euros through the company New Era Visionary Group (with a Spanish subsidiary based in Sant Andreu) to help Barça register Olmo by selling seats VIP, left the stage to timid applause. Then, with the strict escort of a friendly club communications employee whose aim was to ensure that he did not speak to any journalists, he disappeared with his son among the plankton of screens, bits and capitalism of the MWC.