The financial mess that Barcelona find themselves firmly in the midst of is truly staggering. Over the years, they have been dragged into mountains of debt and now, under new leadership, the painful road to recovery has begun.
Unfortunately for them, there is no easy fix. In layman’s terms, Barcelona now have their hands tied behind their back, and they will be unable to register any new players – including Lionel Messi – unless they make swinging cuts.
They must make drastic savings of around €200million (£170m) this summer, or they will remain in a bind ahead of next season. That will see first-team stars offloaded and slashes in salaries as part of LaLiga’s crackdown.
To many, the economic restrictions in place in the top-flight in Spain is a very welcome move in football. Its purpose is to prevent out of control spending and ensure that clubs operate firmly within their means.
The finances of teams are thoroughly scrutinised by analysts working in an economic control department, and a cost limit for their squads is then drawn up, which clubs simply must stick to.
This limit establishes the highest amount that can be splashed out on players, coaches, as well as the reserve teams and academy. It is up to clubs as to how they spend this money, but the cap cannot be surpassed.
In effect, it is a similar system to UEFA’s Financial Fair Play. The experts pore over reams of data relating to the finances of every club, with expected revenues, profits and losses, saving and debt repayments all weighed up.
Only when LaLiga are satisfied can clubs register new players, and this is the dilemma Barcelona are currently facing. As it stands, they don’t have the permission needed to add to their first-team for the new campaign.
The ownership under Josep Bartomeu was a disaster, and the years of mismanagement have come back to haunt Barcelona. The club admitted to liabilities of around €1.3 billion (£1.1bn) and their cost cap has fallen drastically.
In the 2019-20 season, their limit stood at a hefty €671m (£573m), the biggest in LaLiga. Last year, however, it dropped down to €347m (£296m). For the next campaign it has been estimated in Spain to be around €160m (£136m).
As a result, they have been scrambling around in recent weeks, desperately looking for fixes.
But now, they may have found one. A swap deal between high-earner Antoine Griezmann and Saul looks to be edging ever closer, and offloading the former would be a big step in the right direction at the Nou Camp.
Griezmann’s contract at Barcelona is heavily incentivised, but with bonuses his basic salary of €12m (£10m) shoots up to €20m (£17m). Saul would arrive for less than half of that figure, a saving that pushes his new club back towards the cap.
In an ideal world, either Philippe Coutinho or Ousmane Dembele would be sold instead, but after injury problems these deals may be impossible over the coming weeks. This has forced Griezmann into the firing line.
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