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A minus of around 130 million euros generated on the transfer market is now booked at FC Barcelona this summer. Like the Catalans, who had to report 1.35 billion euros in liabilities just a year ago and against this background with Lionel Messi let a club legend go for financial reasons, now lead the global expenditure ranking ahead of clubs like FC Bayern or Manchester City can, not only asked the FCB coach Julian Nagelsmann. Barça President Joan Laporta countered similar critical tones as from Munich with the accusation of “ignorance” and a “lack of information about our club”. So it’s worth taking a closer look.
Transfer spending summer 2022: 51 million difference between Bayern and BVB
What is FC Barcelona’s debt?
In 2018, FC Barcelona became the first club to claim, according to “forbes‘ exceeded $1 billion in annual sales. In the summer that followed, acquisitions such as Antoine Griezmann and Frenkie de Jong made exorbitant transfer fees and recorded a minus of 145 million euros on the transfer market. Overall, the club, under the aegis of ex-president Josep Maria Bartomeu, spent €438.4m more on player signings between 2014 and 2020 than it earned from sales.
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All transfers, income and expenses of FC BarcelonaRight this way
The salary structure of the luxurious Blaugrana squad repeatedly reached new levels, the pandemic brought with it losses of more than 480 million euros. Bartolomeu’s successor Laporta described the club as “clinically dead” when he took office in March last year, when Barcelona were reportedly in arrears with another almost 400 million euros in salary payments and also had 670 million euros in liabilities to the banks .
Despite the mountain of debt mentioned at the beginning, Laporta went on a shopping spree this summer – also with a view to the recent lackluster time in terms of sporting success, the last LaLiga championship was three years ago, the last title in the “premier class” dates back to 2015 – and announced in response to Nagelsmann’s statements: “Barça is back! (…) It is true that we were practically terminally ill. But thanks to financial leverage, we left the hospital.”
Transfers despite debt: What are FC Barcelona’s “financial levers”?
The path that Laporta and Co. have taken with Barça is a risky game with the future, experts agree. Because for short-term success, the club takes on a huge mortgage – always with the aim of remaining competitive and paying off the horrendous expenses through recurring sporting successes and corresponding income in the long term. In the hope that the club will eventually be able to operate profitably again. Until then, however, it is a long way, on which the bosses have no choice but to try to get by creatively and cleverly.
With Alcácer, Ronaldinho, Thiago & Co.: FC Barcelona’s most expensive sales
FC Barcelona took out a loan of EUR 595 million from the American investment bank Goldman Sachs last year to deal with the current financial crisis. In the past few weeks, the Catalans have sold a total of 25 percent of the TV rights for 25 years to the investment company Sixth Street. More than 500 million euros are to flow for this. Through the additional sale of up to 49.9 percent of the merchandising, the aim is to generate more than 600 million euros in income and to “beautify” the balance sheets.
So Barcelona is already using income generated over the long term to pay off current liabilities and also to remain able to act on the transfer market – future revenues will shrink accordingly. Transfer fees and salary payments are sometimes broken down in such a way that certain expenses are only due in the future. The conditions of the Spanish league association LFP, according to which the Catalans have to save three euros in salaries for every euro of additional salary expenditure, can be circumvented at least a little in this way.
Coutinho, Lewandowski & Co.: Most expensive additions to FC Barcelona
While the costs for the necessary renovation of the traditional Camp Nou stadium are expected to amount to up to 1.5 billion euros in the coming years, which according to Laporta are already covered by another loan, Barça is trying to generate income through other creative ways. After the EUR 435 million shirt sponsorship deal with “Spotify”, the name of the local club is also to be marketed with financial gain in the future. If you want to play football on the legendary lawn, you can do so for a fee and weddings should also be possible.
FC Barcelona: The case of de Jong and the struggle with financial fair play
While the millions on the transfer market flow into new players like Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha or, most recently, Jules Koundé, the previously meager amounts on the revenue side for Laporta & Co. could still become a problem. In order to comply with the criteria of financial fair play in LaLiga, the club needs additional income so that, for example, newcomers can also be officially registered for the game. This situation can be illustrated by the example of Frenkie de Jongs, who was recently publicly advised by ex-English international and TV expert Gary Neville to take legal action against the club due to his situation.
The sports newspapermark” published excerpts from de Jong’s contract, which runs until 2026, in early July, which show how expensive the next four years will be for the Catalans if they don’t give up the Dutch midfielder. De Jong, who switched from Ajax Amsterdam to Barça in 2019 for a fee of 86 million euros, has only been able to convince in the meantime and has been associated with a departure to Manchester United for months – most recently a transfer fee of 65 million euros was reported plus bonuses of 20 million euros speculated – but should refuse a change. Barcelona have reportedly offered him a salary reduction of up to 40 percent, although the club are said to still owe him around €17m in back payments due to a voluntary wage cut during the pandemic. In order not to violate the requirements in terms of salary caps, one is now thinking about a loan, it was said during the week.
Although some players are said to have accepted lower salaries again or, like Ousmane Dembélé recently, extended their contract on worse terms, the current approach of Laporta and Co. remains a risky game with fire. Because while on the one hand you want to maintain your competitiveness in the here and now with new measures, you are doomed to win in the years to come, to put it bluntly.
Final note: If you want to take a closer look at the figures and financing models of FC Barcelona, take a look to this Twitter thread by the Swiss blogger @Swissramble recommended.
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