Laporta owes Flick a debt.

The bet on Hansi Flick is Joan Laporta's best government achievement. The sentiment is unanimous. The candidate clings to the charismatic, confident, and intelligent figure of the coach, behind which the management errors that have hampered the club's escape from the financial abyss it fell into due to the pandemic and Josep Maria Bartomeu can easily be hidden. Plato's allegory of the cave is very much alive, and the smile and blue eyes of the man from Heidelberg are the backdrop for this campaign. Flick is squeezing the maximum out of a squad limited by the inability to make big signings, while being forced to coexist in decision-making with... an actor without a defined role: Alejandro Echevarría. The summer of 2024 accepted the rules of the game with pleasure, but from sharpening it so much, soon there will be no pencil left.

Everything suggests that if Víctor Font doesn't transform overnight into a new man who connects with the people, Laporta will win the elections and will have much to thank Flick for. Never before has there been such explicit support from a coach during an election period, with unequivocal messages and by his side. even at the presentation of his propaganda book. The German can't do much more to help the team, and it would be good if his unconditional commitment received the necessary reciprocity to help the team evolve. Let's not kid ourselves: if the ultimate goal is to win the Champions League, Flick has earned the right to work with more freedom and better resources. It's easy to point out the shortcomings of his playing philosophy when things aren't going well, but we should also look at the boardroom. Not only because of the lack of fair playbut by a peculiar chain of command.

This season's narrative is sending numerous warnings that Flick is subtly emphasizing. The squad's potential and irreverent youth are extraordinary, but more game-changing talent is needed to fully return to the European elite. And, ideally, they need to avoid self-sabotage with physical conditioning and prevent waves of injuries when the team is fighting for survival. If Flick has proven to be like MacGyver so far, imagine what he would be like with the ability to bring in players according to his criteria and with real power in the day-to-day operations at the training ground. If at the end of the season he demands everything he hasn't asked for so far to extend his stay at the club, Laporta should listen to him. He owes him, at the very least, a hearing without intermediary interference.