In an effort to address its financial issues, Barcelona will probably have to sell prominent athletes.
Javier Tebas, the president of La Liga, has long been a source of financial hardship for Barcelona. That is the result of numerous costly transfer agreements and years of poor leadership on the part of the previous president, Josep Bartomeu.
Since that time, Barcelona has been forced to make budget cuts and has lost great players like Lionel Messi, Jordi Alba, and Sergio Busquets. In order to ease the financial strain on the Catalan team, Gerard Pique also voluntarily retired halfway through the previous campaign.
Barcelona traded Ousmane Dembele to PSG and Franck Kessie to Al Ahli Club in Saudi Arabia during the previous summer’s transfer window. They also leased Clement Lenglet to Aston Villa and Ansu Fati to Brighton to stay below their salary ceiling.
However, the Daily Mail reports that Barcelona has been told they will have roughly £232 million to spend on salaries this season. The defending La Liga winners’ personnel and squad costs are estimated to be about £347 million, which is more than £115 million.
As a result, Barcelona may need to reduce its roster in order to make up the aforementioned shortfall. The most straightforward answer is for the Nou Camp team to sell players during the upcoming January transfer window in order to raise 115 million pounds.
These two might go and greatly aid Barcelona because Fati and Lenglet are already on loan. In the meantime, Frenkie De Jong and Ferran Torres are constantly mentioned in relation to leaving the Nou Camp. Many European goliaths are actively vying for the two “precious gems” Gavi or Pedri.
If they don’t, Barcelona’s salary cap will be even lower in 2024–25, which will once more have a direct impact on the club’s capacity to sign players in the transfer market. soccer team from Catalonia.
President Tebas assigns salary caps to La Liga clubs at the start of the season based on their earnings and outlays from the previous campaign.
Notably, Barcelona did not make a significant financial commitment during the previous summer transfer window. They only paid roughly 3 million pounds to sign Oriol Romeu from Girona, along with free transfers for Ilkay Gundogan and Iningo Martinez and a loan of Joao Felix from Atletico Madrid. and Manchester City’s Joao Cancelo.
However, Barcelona failed to receive a timely payment of about £51 million after using one of their economic levers in the summer of 2019. 2022, despite player sales totaling over £90 million.
The contrast to Barcelona’s fierce rival Real Madrid also highlights the club’s financial challenges. Last season, the two teams’ pay caps were comparable, but Real Madrid’s cap has increased to almost £627 million this year.