FC Barcelona, one of, if not the biggest football club in the world, have stolen the headlines this transfer window, as the uncertainty around its finances have become a recurring issue.
The Spanish side have been very busy this offseason, wasting little time and money in retooling a squad that finished 13 points behind their biggest rivals, Real Madrid.
After parting ways with 13 first-team players, Barcelona splurged over €EUR143 million ($AUD208 million) into five new signings.
Many questioned where Barcelona were getting the money from, considering only 12 months ago club president, Joan Laporta announced the team was in over €EUR 1.1 billion ($AUD 1.6 billion) of debt.
Barcelona’s spending frenzy hasn’t gone down well with the majority of football fans as they still owe French-side Bordeaux €EUR 10 million ($AUD14.5 million) for the transfer of Brazilian winger Malcom. Bordeaux were recently relegated from the top-tier in France but were sent down to the third-tier due to financial troubles.
According to a report by Spanish-outlet, Aficion Deportiva, Barcelona currently owe €EUR126 million ($AUD183.3 million) to 19 different clubs for transfers dating back to early 2018.
With a mountain of debt and clubs knocking at Barcelona’s door asking for their rightfully owed money, the club was forced to ask its players to take a massive pay-cut or to be paid at a later date throughout the 2020 season – post-Covid lockdown.
The majority of the players obliged and happily took the pay-cut to help the club get through the uncertain times, however Barcelona used this financial leverage to make more signings, many that didn’t make sense nor help the side in competitive games.
Barcelona struggled to re-sign its current players and would continue to re-format the current contracts of its stars in order to gain more flexibility under La Liga’s strict financial rules.
Fast forward to the European summer of 2022, Laporta claims to the press that “Barca are back” and wastes little time securing the services of free agents Franck Kessie and Andreas Christensen.
Shortly after, Barcelona spent more money by signing Robert Lewandowski, Jules Kounde and Raphinha, leaving their net spend for the summer at a negative of -€EUR130 million ($AUD189 million).
Barcelona managed to sell just about any future asset they could find, including T.V rights and ‘Barca Studios’ in order to get cash up front.
Although Barca managed to find the funds for these transfers, due to La Liga’s financial rules they were and still are unable to register these players without the league deeming them to be financially stable going forward.
The Catalonia-based side were getting desperate and needed players to leave immediately in order for Xavi Hernandez to be able to use his new signings for the opening weekend of La Liga.
The well-documented case of Frenkie de Jong essentially being forced out of the club has dominated the headlines this summer, whilst Martin Braithwaite’s refusal to leave unless he is paid what he is owed has been a talking point for many fans.
Barcelona are desperately trying to sell off another 24% of Barca Studios in order to satisfy La Liga’s requirements by Matchday 1, but even if they do, you have to question how sustainable the business model is going forward.
Sure, Barcelona will make plenty more money if they can progress far into the Champions League or if they win La Liga, but the amount of ageing players the club has on the books for years to come is certainly a worry for the fans.
Barcelona’s transfer history in recent years has been well-below average to say the least, with many of the players being sold within 12 months of arriving at the Camp Nou in an attempt to recoup as much money as possible.
The future of Barcelona is one of the biggest questions in football right now and it will continue to dominate the headlines unless the club makes significant progress in its financial debt.
