Barca boss takes swipe at Real´s war chest

Barcelona chairman Joan Laporta took a veiled swipe at bitter rivals Real Madrid on Sunday when he warned of the danger of escalating transfer fees in Spain.

“I hope we will avoid having to pay these excessive prices for players,” Laporta told Barca supporters at a dinner in Catalonia.

He said Barcelona would be “sensible”, keeping a “cool head” over the issue.

Laporta’s remarks have been taken as an indirect reference to plans by Real Madrid to spend millions of euros on new players.

Florentino Perez, Real’s chairman, is said to have set up a 200 million euro war chest to ensure the club overtakes its arch-rival at the top of the Spanish league next year.

There has been speculation that a sum of 65 million euros has been set aside to tempt Brazilian playmaker Kaka to move from AC Milan to the Spanish capital.

But the north Italian club’s chairman, Italian prime minister Sylvio Berlusconi, insisted last week that nothing had been decided and Kaka could stay at Milan.

Last month Perez promised club stakeholders in Madrid he would “build a spectacular team with top notch players.” He vowed the new squad would include footballers who “would turn each Real Madrid match into a fascinating rendez-vous.”

Perez was the architect of the multimillion-dollar era of ‘galacticos’,when Real Madrid’s player list included global stars such as Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane and David Beckham.

Laporta meanwhile promised that Barcelona would be seeking to strengthen their squad so the club “continues to be hungry for titles”.

The Catalan club won the league title, Spanish King’s Cup as well as the Champions League last season.