Joan Laporta wanting Arsenal boss at Barcelona is not true

Recent speculations revolving around Arsenal Boss Mikel Arteta’s future had the Spaniard be linked with making a switch to Barcelona at the end of the season.

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Catalan radio claimed that former Barca president and candidate for this month’s election, Joan Laporta, was keen on replacing current coach Ronald Koeman with Arteta if he wins the elections.

Goal, however, have confirmed that these reports are false and that the Spaniard has not been contacted by anyone from the club. Arteta is not even being considered as a possible option to replace Koeman in the summer.

The elections are set to take place on March 8th with Laporta fighting for the spot alongside Victor Font and Toni Freixa. Laporta and Font remain the two favorite candidates with the latter already revealing intentions of bringing legendary midfielder Xavi Hernandez to the dugout.

Meanwhile, Laporta believes that the former captain is not yet ready to lead Barca despite finding great success with his current side, Al Sadd. The Qatari club is undefeated this season, and are being named as favourites for every tournament they have entered.

Laporta has already served as the Barca president from 2003 to 2010, and while his term gave the world the legendary Pep Guardiola squad, the current squad requires a lot of changes and guidance.

On top of that, the situation of Lionel Messi has been of great debate among the candidates with Laporta stating that he is the only person that can convince the Argentine to stay at the Nou Camp,

"“He knows the offer I make will be real and I will fulfil it. I think that will help a lot and is an advantage over the other candidates.”Source Goal"

While the future of the club depends on the election, Koeman’s future might be in his own hands. While many believe that the Dutch coach should be applauded for the improvement in the performance of the squad in recent matches, given the many barriers he faced with the ongoing financial hardship and injury crisis, the team is nowhere near ready to compete against the top teams in the world.

Their latest 4-1 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain was a reality check and Koeman was very clear when stating in the post-match interview that the current Barca squad cannot win the Champions League. It remains to be seen how the season will end for the Catalans but the presidential elections will surely start a new era at Camp Nou.

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