EXCLUSIVE: In an interview with Goal, the Barca presidential candidate reveals his vision and says he can beat Joan Laporta in the summer vote

By Ben Hayward in Barcelona

Barcelona elections may be coming a year early, but Agusti Benedito is ready.



From his office on Passeig de Gracia, a stone's throw from the quirky, stylish restorations of Barcelona's brilliant architect Andoni Gaudi in the early 1900s, Benedito is plotting a bright future for the Catalan club.



Like former presidents Joan Laporta and Sandro Rosell, Benedito's first association with Barca came in the Elefant Blau momevent that brought a censure motion against former chief Josep Lluis Nunez in 1997, when he first made the top job his long-term goal.



"I have been involved with Barca ever since the first elections I took part in back in 1997," the 50-year-old businessman told Goal in an interview. "All this time we have been composing a very specific, very determined model.



"We have a very clear idea of what the club represents and we haven't seen that reflected in any past candidacy. So the only way to take Barca where we want is through our own candidacy - and that's what we're trying to achieve."



So what is his vision for Barca? Benedito raised his eyebrows. "Uff... how long have you got?"



He spoke for 51 minutes but, for a man involved with the club for 18 years, you suspected he could have gone on for days.



"Barca is a club with a huge international dimension, with five million supporters in Catalunya, almost 60m in Europe and more than 300m throughout the world," he said. "Barca is among the elite global brands but is an exception in that it is owned by 150,000 people. That is a very unique thing.



"Our vision is to make the international dimension - which we will have to strengthen - compatible with the socios and their ownership of the club."



Specifically, there are many changes Benedito would make if installed as president this summer. One of those would be to end the club's controversial association with the Qatar brand, an agreement Benedito says is damaging Barca's "Mes que un club" image.



"The Qatar contract is a very harmful for Barca," he asserted. "It's not an interesting contract financially but, more importantly than that, in terms of image, values and feeling, for what Barca represents, I believe the club should stay well away from the Qatar regime."



And he vowed: "My commitment is to break, or at least not renew, the relations with Qatar."

His reservations about associating with Qatar extend from the tiny state's workers' rights record to its regional geopolitical influence. He feels the deal directly contravenes the moral high ground Barca claim to adopt.



Instead, Benedito believes there are "great companies" that would be delighted to sign sponsorship agreements with the club. He adds he would consider a return to a Barca shirt free from commercial advertising for the first time since 2011, or even restore Unicef to the front of the famous jersey (like between 2006 and 2011).



"[Current president Josep Maria] Bartomeu has rejected the possibility of a shirt without advertising, but I think it's an option we have to keep alive. Financially, I'm not sure if it's possible. Until we go into the club and know the exact economic situation, it is impossible to say, but we cannot rule out that option.



"With Unicef on our shirt and without a main sponsor, we achieved the greatest victories in the history of this club. So the model can be compatible with a sponsor-free shirt. But obviously it depends on the real financial situation of the club."



Benedito is also committed to redeveloping Barca's Camp Nou home in the coming years, as well as building a new Pabellon Blaugrana for the club's other sports sections (basketball, handball, roller hockey and futsal). He even went so far as to claim that Barca's famed La Masia academy has fallen behind city rivals Espanyol in terms of developing genuinely local talent.



"It is evident that the Camp Nou needs an important redevelopment in the next few years and that we also need a new Pabellon Blaugrana for the other sports sections," he said. "But Barca has a privileged position geographically in the centre of the city and we won't build outside of those installations. Nor will we undergo any investments that risk our independence as an institiution.



"And of the 22 players in the first-team squad, 15 or 16 ideally should come up from La Masia. That model has given us a lot of success in recent years and has characterised the play and the style of our club.



"However, in the last few years our academy and youth development has lost some of its strength. At the moment we are behind our Espanyol in all of the categories apart from, I think, the Infantil A, while Barca B are competing in Segunda with some difficulties. It's important to recover the level of excellence we achieved previously and definitively for Barca B."



Keen to maintain the traditions of the expansive and free-flowing attacking football employed since the Johan Cruyff era, Benedito says he would welcome back the Dutchman to Barca in some capacity.



"Our style of play has been marked since Cruyff's time and we shouldn't abandon that," he said. "There can be variations, but the current style, with control of the ball, pressing high up the pitch to win it back, players attacking out wide - that's part of the essence of Barca.



"Cruyff made history as a player for Barca and also as a coach. He is one of the club's great figures and very much the creator, the initiator of this playing style we have now. Barca are very lucky to have Cruyff associated with the club and he has to be involved in whichever way he sees fit."



He would also love to bring back former boss Pep Guardiola, but acknowledges the difficulty of extracting him from Bayern Munich.



"With Guardiola, Barca achieved its maximum expression and not only in terms of titles," he said. "The day he decides to return, in whatever capacity he chooses, will be a great day for this club. At the moment he has a contract with Bayern and he will want to honour that, I know him. But after that it's up to him. He will always be very welcome."



Meanwhile, Benedito says no decision has been taken on the coaching position in his possible presidency and reveals he and his team will monitor Luis Enrique's progress until the end of the season.



"Luis Enrique took over the team at a difficult time and it's not easy to do what he has done," he said. "It has been a difficult job and he deserves time to see how he evolves. The time for conclusions will be at the end of the season."



Presidential campaigns are often marked by promises of new players and coaches, with Florentino Perez pledging to sign Luis Figo for Real Madrid in 2000 and Joan Laporta vowing to capture David Beckham (before bringing in Ronaldinho instead) for Barca in 2003. In keeping with his populist manifesto, Benedito dangled the carrot of a major signing in front of fans, saying: "We are speaking to people in all areas and when the time comes, we will reveal names".



But Barca, of course, have been hit by a Fifa-imposed transfer ban and are unable to sign new players in 2015, although footballers could potentially be registered and then make their debuts for the club in January 2016.

Favourite | Former club chief Joan Laporta is also planning to stand in the summer elections

"That makes things a lot harder for us because it gives our competitors an advantage," he added. "But it's not impossible."



To avoid such sanctions in future, the 50-year-old says the club must improve relations with Fifa and the game's other organising committees and controlling bodies.



"Barca should have good relations with the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), the Professional Football League (LFP), Fifa, Uefa and all of the other bodies," he said. "It's obvious we need to correct and change the polices of the current board. We have to do things differently."



One player Benedito does hope to see as the cornerstone of his project is Lionel Messi.



"Messi, from my point of view - and I believe it's the point of view of all Barca fans - is the best player in the world and surely the best player in history," he said. "We are lucky that Messi, at 27, is still showing that incredible hunger week after week.



"Leo is fundamantal for Barcelona in the coming years. It would be a huge mistake to sell Messi or to provoke his exit. Let's hope that doesn't happen. I hope and trust he will be here for many years to come."



Messi and Guardiola led Barca to 14 titles out of a possible 19 between 2008 and 2012, with Laporta in charge for the first two years of that era-defining period at the Catalan club and responsible for the recruitment of the Catalan coach.



Laporta has yet to confirm whether he will stand in 2015, but has hinted he will be in the race and will start as huge favourite due to his ultra-successful mandate between 2003 and 2010.



"According to various polls, Joan Laporta would start with a 30 per cent share, but if you look at voting intentions, we are only 10% behind," Benedito said.



And he added: "If Laporta does stand, it is clear he will be the man to beat. But he can be beaten."



A firmness in his voice and a confident glare suggests he really does believe it, too. Now he just has to convince the socios that he is the right man to lead the club forward.