Financial problems have been overcome
FC Barcelona President Joan Laporta has sharply countered criticism of Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann’s comments on the financially troubled Spanish club’s purchasing policy. “Everyone should mind their own business,” Laporta said in New York. He said the critical comments had something to do with “ignorance”, but also with concern about the renewed competition. “Barça is back!” Laporta assured journalists.
A week ago, Nagelsmann expressed his astonishment that the club, which owes 1.35 billion euros, was able to strengthen this summer with expensive stars such as world footballer Robert Lewandowski, who had been ripped off by Bayern, or Brazilian Raphinha from Leeds United. With a total of 153 million euros, the Catalans spent more money than any other club, the German record champions are in second place with 137.5 million euros. “It’s not just Lewy, they’re buying a lot of players – I don’t know how. It’s the only club in the world that has no money but buys any player they want. It’s kind of weird, kind of crazy,” Nagelsmann said.
Transfer spending summer 2022: 51 million difference between Bayern and BVB
According to Laporta, financial problems at FC Barcelona have been overcome for the time being
Laporta explained this without naming Nagelsmann: “It’s ignorance, a lack of information about our club.” The club boss admitted: “It’s true that we were practically terminally ill. Thanks to financial leverage, however, we left the hospital. These gentlemen (the critics; editor’s note) live in the past.”
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Not only Nagelsmann, but also the Madrid media – which are close to arch-rival Real Madrid – had expressed criticism. Laporta suspects that the competition is afraid: “They probably do it because they believe that we will continue to be active in the market and have already overtaken them. Everyone should take care of their own things.”
The high expenses are possible, among other things, due to a not uncontroversial sale of association assets. 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. FC Barcelona also wants to cede a minority stake in Barca Licensing and Merchandising (BLM).
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