FC Barcelona has acquired new players to its team worth 153 million euros. At the same time, poor financial management has driven the club into financial problems, due to which it is forced to look for salvation through different means. Jari Litmanen feels that carelessness has been visible for a long time.
– A club that has no money at all acquires every player it wants. I don’t know how they do it. It’s really weird, really crazy even.
Bayern Munich head coach Julian Nagelsmann characterization of FC Barcelona hit the minds of many followers of international club football. Nagelsmann’s wonder has been echoed by several people when talking about the Spanish giants this summer.
FC Barcelona has experienced a downward spiral in terms of football and especially financially in recent years. In the last two years, the Catalan club’s weak financial management and financial squabbles have hit it particularly hard in the face.
The five-time Champions League champion and 26-time winner of the Spanish premier league has long believed that it can avoid financial chaos. At the moment, however, Barcelona has debts for a total of 1.35 billion euros. Chairman of the club Joan Laporta described the club as being half-dead when he was elected to take over in March 2021.
However, Barcelona has acquired players worth 153 million euros this past summer before the start of their season. It has won tenders, for example From Raphinha and From Jules Koundeas well as bringing in the former Bayern Munich goalkeeper Robert Lewandowski. On top of that, according to several sources, the club is willing to sign more players.
At the same time, it is trying to get rid of various holdings to offset its debt burden so that it can register the players it has acquired for the La Liga season that starts on Saturday. It tries to trade its players elsewhere, sometimes even by questionable means.
Waste professionals
Barcelona’s debts have accumulated above all through the club’s own wrong decisions. The period of the 2019–20 season changed by the coronavirus has also brought an additional burden. The Catalan club announced (you will switch to another service) that he lost EUR 97 million net during that period. Most of it was accumulated after the matchday profits disappeared. Its revenue fell by 24 percent compared to the previous season.
On top of this, the club’s problems grew after TV broadcasting income was reduced. The club was EUR 35 million short of its TV income from the previous season. When Barcelona had budgeted 1.05 billion euros for the season, the total income of 855 million euros was not enough.
To top it all off, the club has continued the extensive renovation of the Camp Nou stadium and other sports venues in Barcelona. The modernization project will take your money (you will switch to another service) around 50 million euros per year, for the next 25 years. In addition, the contract regarding the project takes another 50 million euros per year from “Barca” to the investment banking company Goldman Sachs.
The biggest club has failed in player acquisitions and their salaries. For example, elevated to the icon of the club Lionel Messi made more than 500 million euros over four years with his contract with Barcelona. Its player fee debts had risen to 1.5 billion euros in 2021.
Finland’s all-time footballer Jari Litmanen played in FC Barcelona from 1999–2001. According to him, the club’s reckless spending of money has marked it for years, even when he was playing for the club.
– Let’s put it this way, having followed Barcelona’s activities very closely and for a long time, I can say with the term “Barcelona hurts and happens”, Litmanen said at the partner event of the Super Cup played in Helsinki.
– Now they have apparently found a new safe somewhere or founded their own bank. It’s pretty sweet to have 1.5 billion in debt and still get Lewandowski in the team. Quite a lot of others would have wanted him too, clubs that actually have money, he continued jokingly.
Bullying your own players
One of Barcelona’s problems is not being able to register the players they have acquired. The salary cap set by the Spanish premier league, La Liga, has forced Barcelona to seek financial relief in various ways. For example, it has had to sell its shares in La Liga TV rights and its marketing companies, and will probably have to (you switch to another service) to continue these sales as well.
In addition to this, the club has had to sell its expensive players. In particular, the Dutch midfielder has remained at the center of the sales frenzy Frenkie de Jong, who joined the Barcelona crew three years ago for a transfer fee of just under 77 million euros. According to the information, he has salary receivables from Barcelona in the amount of more than 20 million euros.
Barcelona has sold its midfielder to other places throughout the spring and summer. Company record to agree (you switch to another service) de Jong’s transfer with Manchester United, but has not reached an agreement with the player himself about the departure.
However, Barcelona is too According to The Athletic (you will be transferred to another service) started with a new approach to the situation. The club has reportedly threatened de Jong with legal action over the extension contract concluded in 2020. According to FC Barcelona, its own former board and ex-president Josep Bartomeu have entered into a contract illegally. The club is demanding de Jong take a substantial pay cut to avoid legal action.
For example, a former top soccer player and currently working as an expert for the British channel Sky Gary Neville has described the situation as “bullying” de Jong. Chairman of the Dutch Players Association Yevgeny Levchenko in turn blame (you switch to another service) Barcelona for blackmailing de Jong.
The situation can also be seen in de Jong’s treatment at Barcelona. His own supporters have, for example, booed him in practice matches. It has also reached social media videos (you switch to another service), where the supporters welcome him to training, shouting insults, demanding that he reduce his salary. A Dane has also received similar treatment Martin Braithwaite.
Credit rating improved, problems continue
Barcelona’s worries will surely continue for some time. Among other things, the club will have to move in the 2023–24 season to the old Olympic stadium in Barcelona, which can accommodate 54,000 spectators. The change is big, as Camp Nou, which is undergoing renovation, can accommodate 99,354 spectators. Several Spanish journalists have doubted whether the club’s finances can withstand any more setbacks under the threat of bankruptcy.
The club said (you will switch to another service) having received a slightly better credit rating from the credit rating agency DBRS Morningstar. FC Barcelona’s rating improved from negative BBB to stable BBB. However, the change is relatively small, as the classification in question still describes a high credit risk.
Jari Litmas is concerned about the future of his “sportingly competitive” former club.
– When responsibility is constantly being transferred and transferred here, I don’t know where this will end in the end. At some point, there may be a new chairman who tries to solve the same issues again. In Barcelona, I guess they think that through success they will get income again, with which they can later pay everything back, Litmanen reflects.
Statistical company Opta (you switch to another service) gives last season’s runner-up “Barca” an 18.6% chance of winning the series this year. Barcelona’s arch-nemesis Real Madrid has a probability of victory of 58.1.