Laporta wields the axe: Soler and Gomez Ponti out as Barça shake-up starts

Laporta wields the axe: Soler and Gomez Ponti out as Barça shake-up starts

| sport

The two directors are the first to be let go following the election of Joan Laporta on March 7

Joan Laporta is starting to make his first big decisions as Barcelona president. Ten days after his inauguration, he has got rid of two high-ranking executives left from Josep Maria Bartomeu's time in charge.

Albert Soler and Roman Gomez Ponti will both leave their roles at Camp Nou. Soler was the director for professional sports (not including football) and Gomez Ponti was the head of legal services.

Oscar Grau, until now Barça's CEO, will temporarily replace Soler, while Cristina Belloque will oversee legal on an interim basis.

Despite spending many years at the club, Gomez Ponti's standing has dropped on the back of the Barçagate scandal. He was one of the four men arrested earlier this month.

Soler, meanwhile, joined Barça in 2014 as the director of institutional relations and in 2015 became director for professional sports. However, in 2017, he stopped working on the football side of things.

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