Julian Nagelsmann also wondered how FC Barcelona, which is extremely indebted, can afford Robert Lewandowski and other expensive transfers. The answer is here.
A year ago, FC Barcelona had to let Lionel Messi go because he could no longer afford his superstar’s salary. According to the club, 1.35 billion euros in debt weighed on them. The golden days seemed over for the time being.
But now Barcelona have signed 2020 and 2021 FIFA World Player of the Year Robert Lewandowski. Getting the striker out of his contract, which runs until 2023, cost the club 45 million euros plus possible bonus payments of five million euros. In addition, there is certainly a lavish salary in the four-year contract.
Previously, Barcelona had already signed right winger Raphinha from Leeds United for €55m plus bonus payments. Franck Kessié (from AC Milan) and Andreas Christensen (from Chelsea FC) came on a free transfer, but are also likely to have negotiated high salary payments.
“It’s not just Lewy, they buy 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.”, said Julian Nagelsmann on Tuesday (07/19/2022, local time) during FC Bayern’s PR tour in the USA. The Munich coach, who also invested a lot of money in transfers and new contracts during the years of the pandemic, can be helped with a thread by the Twitter user @SwissRamble, who has been dealing with balance sheets and developments at football clubs for many years and his expertise is highly valued.
Sale of silverware
So FC Barcelona is again involved in the top shelf of transfers – and does so with a very high risk. The measures that allow the club to make these investments are, for the most part, a huge mortgage for the future. Because those responsible also sell the silverware: They plan to cede up to 25 percent of the TV rights for a maximum of 25 years and 49.9 percent of the fan article shops. The first transactions are already fixed, so has the investment company Sixth St ten percent of the Barca television rights cost 207.5 million euros.
In total, Barcelona wants to earn more than 600 million euros and thereby improve the balance of the past season. In this way, the club can circumvent the requirements of the Spanish league association LFP, according to which it must save three euros in salaries for every euro of additional salary expenditure. With this edition, well-known additions would hardly have been possible.
Frenkie de Jong wants to stay
Although some players have accepted lower salaries or extended them on worse terms (like Ousmane Dembélé recently), there have been few prominent departures so far. Philippe Coutinho joins AstonVilla, Dani Alves’ contract has expired, Francisco Trincao (Sporting Lisbon) and Clement Lenglet (Tottenham) are on loan. Midfielder Frenkie de Jong is said to still be worth many millions Manchester United be handed over, but currently insists on his whereabouts in Barcelona.
New sponsor, new sources of income, new debt
So the management has to stay creative. They got 435 million euros from the music streaming provider Spotify for the company name to be emblazoned on the jerseys and included in the name of the stadium. The “Spotify Camp Nou” should also bring in additional money by allowing hobby players to kick the ball there – for 300 euros per participant. Weddings in the stadium are also possible and cost up to 13,500 euros.
On the other hand, the stadium creates another enormous mountain of debt. It will be renovated and modernized into the 2025/26 season, in the coming season FC Barcelona will hold their home games in the Olympic Stadium as a substitute Lluis Companys in front of a maximum of 55,000 spectators. Cost of the construction work at Camp Nou: up to 1.5 billion euros. Funding, said President Joan Laporta, is secured entirely by loans.
Lifeline Super League
This investment will also burden the club for a long time – just like the loan of 595 million euros that the American investment bank Goldman Sachs made available to deal with the acute crisis. Transfer fees and salary payments are sometimes so fragmented that parts of the expenses are only due in the future. The idea behind it: to remain competitive at the moment in order to continue collecting the high income from the Champions League. And then manage better in the long term and reduce debt.
Or else: hoping that the Super League, which initially failed, will still become something. Along with Real Madrid and Juventus Turin, Barcelona are one of the remaining top clubs pushing the hotly disputed project of a private European league. They contest the monopoly of UEFA and FIFA to organize international competitions. A ruling from the European Court of Justice is expected in early 2023.
As founding members, the clubs could help shape the rules of a new Super League and thus ensure that they reliably generate high revenues. However, there was great resistance among players, officials and fans when twelve top clubs from England, Italy and Spain surprisingly announced the founding of the Super League in April 2021.
Lewandowski – also a symbol
Despite all the calculations, Lewandowski’s signing has an emotional aspect. At the age of 34, the Pole will probably no longer allow Barcelona to sell profitably. But he brings hope to the club and the fans after all the negative headlines and sporting setbacks. The radiance of the legendary club still seems to work – and of course Lewandowski brings a lot of quality and experience to the squad.
So it could actually be something again with titles in Spain and top places in the Champions League. However, the club is doomed to win due to its risky bet on bubbling revenue.