"Why the rush? The sale of 30% of FC Porto's commercial rights is very costly to us. Despite the partner being good, this is an indicator of operational and cash flow bankruptcy. When you sell something unnecessarily, it is either due to incompetence or operational necessity. We are very concerned about the acceleration of these processes, without questioning the quality of that same partner. It is a revealing sign that worries us", he acknowledged.

The officialization of the 25-year agreement with Ithaka was finalized at the end of the afternoon, in a statement sent by FC Porto SAD to the Securities Market Commission (CMVM), practically at the same time that André Villas-Boas started the presentation session of the Spaniard Andoni Zubizarreta and Jorge Costa, former captain of the club, as candidates of list B for the sports and professional football management, respectively.

"It is another acceleration of a process that this management will face. We need to get to know the people when we get there and understand the reasons for this. It hurts when you sell due to inoperability. When you sell nine days before the elections, it is serious for the members", he stressed.

André Villas-Boas also regretted the news released on Monday about a possible breach by the national runners-up of UEFA's financial 'fair play' rules, in the period between October 2023 and January.

"This week we had new news about breaches. The questions remained unanswered: was there a breach or not? Is there a fine [of two million euros] on the way or not? Is there a risk of a suspended sentence [of participation] in European competitions or not?" he said, focusing on one of the structuring businesses addressed in the letter he sent to the SAD administration led by Pinto da Costa on March 14.

On Monday, FC Porto denied that it had violated or that it could be at risk of violating financial 'fair play', ensuring that it met all the requirements on March 31 and that it had already received the license to compete in the next season's European competitions.

In a written response to the Lusa agency, an official UEFA source stated that "it has no comment or information to give at this time" on the 'blue and white' financial situation.

"It is false that FC Porto breached in certain periods, but not in those. That is the question and we lack answers. No one goes to UEFA to have coffee. We are very concerned. We all saw the president clinging in a very tactical way to a statement, but there are those questions that are very easy to answer. It seems to us that there could be a negative surprise on the way, which is very serious", noted André Villas-Boas.

The elections for the social bodies of FC Porto for the four-year period 2024-2028 are disputed by three candidacies, headed by the current 'blue and white' president, Pinto da Costa (list A), André Villas-Boas (B) and Nuno Lobo (C), a businessman and professor, also including an independent list for the Superior Council led by Miguel Brás da Cunha (D).

"Yesterday [on Wednesday], we had the information that, at this moment, only about 40,000 members already have electoral capacity. That is, 30,000 have the [March] quota to regularize. It is important to lower this massive number so that these become the most competitive elections ever. In fact, many people will vote for the first time and we could be facing an operational chaos for the renewal of quotas, which could prevent them from making this regularization on the day itself", warned the club's former coach.

The electoral act takes place on April 27, from 9:00 am to 8:00 pm, at the Estádio do Dragão, in Porto, at a time when Pinto da Costa is serving his 15th consecutive term, since 1982, holding the status of leader with the most titles and longevity in world football

Read Also: André Villas-Boas questions Pinto da Costa: "What is FC Porto hiding?" (Portuguese version)