FC Barcelona is playing with the future: spending millions despite the mountain of debt

1 Ousmane Dembele | 17/18 for €140m from BVB

–

&copy imago images

–
–

–
–

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 newspaperBrand” 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.

To home page

–