Cruyff: Barcelona have lost their values

Johan Cruyff has criticised Barcelona’s current hierarchy for losing sight of the Catalan giants’ values.

The former Barca coach hit out at Josep Maria Bartomeu for putting money ahead of the club’s principles and placing them on the front pages for non-sporting reasons.

A disgruntled Cruyff also questioned the development being made at the club’s youth academy – La Masia – as the flow of players into the first team has decreased.

The Dutchman has thrown his support behind former president Joan Laporta in the upcoming elections, believing the 53-year-old is the right man to lead the club, who won the treble last season and are currently under a transfer embargo after irregularities were found in their dealings at youth level. 

“It’s been an exceptional year in sporting terms, with good football and titles won. It’s been perfect,” he told Marca. “But that’s not the whole story, there has also been a loss of values. Such as with ‘La Masia’. 

“Barca has also run away with the world championship for tweets about legal issues and that cannot be. We need to get serious.

“When Barcelona was doing badly, there were two decisions made that had a significant impact on the way they played and thought, and those were the signings of [Frank] Rijkaard and [Pep] Guardiola. Both spent eight years at the helm of the first team, developing a project in which ‘La Masia’ was the magic word and that is now no longer the case.

“Values are fundamental, not only in elections, but in life, and Barca have lost sight of them.

“Everyone is delighted with how Barcelona are playing but there are fewer and fewer people from ‘La Masia’. One thing is how well the first team are working and another is how well the club is working. They are two very different things. The first team has won everything and the second, in contrast, has been relegated. That’s a problem.”