Joan Laporta is facing fierce criticism from rival candidates over his bid to sign David Beckham but former Barcelona player and coach Johan Cruyff has given his support to the proposed transfer.
"It's a good move," Cruyff said in a radio interview with Cadena Cope in Spain. "In terms of promotion, Beckham sells more than any other player in the world. There is no doubt about his quality and he could put Barcelona back where they want to be."
Laporta has an agreement to sign Beckham from United provided he wins Sunday's presidential election and can then persuade the England captain to come to Barca.
Cruyff is still an influential figure at the club he played for with style and coached with great success. He has so far stayed out of the campaign, but came close to endorsing Laporta ahead of his chief rival Lluis Bassat on Friday.
"I get on well with Bassat and very well with Laporta," Cruyff said. "The club needs a radical change and it's true that Laporta wants to change everything."
Laporta started the campaign as an outsider but the Beckham deal has seen a surge in support and he is now a point ahead of Bassat in the latest opinion poll published by Barcelona daily Sport on Friday.
Bassat, the clear favourite a couple of weeks ago, believes Laporta is tricking the voters with his use of Beckham, whose advisers have already made it clear he is not considering a Barcelona move.
"Laporta pulled out a toffee to get everyone's hopes up but we've reached the end of the campaign and he doesn't actually have the sweet," Bassat said on Friday.
Other presidential candidates have said the move for Beckham is more about business than addressing the needs of the team and one candidate described the midfielder as "too expensive".
FABULOUS CLUB
While Cruyff was advising Barcelona to move for Beckham, Bobby Robson, the man who replaced the Dutchman as coach at the club, was recommending Barca to the England player.
"I know David's situation is not clear-cut and I wouldn't want to influence him either way, but what I can say is that Barcelona is a fabulous club and a fabulous place and he would be an icon there," Robson told the Manchester United website.
"It's a great city, and the club is part of that wonderful spectrum. It's the best. There was always tension and if you can't handle that it'll eat you up, but that wouldn't bother Beckham."
Despite Laporta's deal with United, Spanish and English newspapers are convinced Real Madrid will come up with a counter-offer that Beckham would be more likely to accept.
Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos, two of Real's Brazilian players, have both said in the last few days that they would expect Beckham to choose their club over Barcelona.
Real goalkeeper Iker Casillas appeared slightly less enthusiastic on Friday, but said he would not be surprised if Beckham became the latest big signing at the club, following Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo.
"Beckham may be more marketing than player but he's a great footballer," Casillas said.
"It would be strange to see him because there are already great footballers here and it's hard to find a space in the team, although people thought the others wouldn't come but they did."
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