Where are Barcelona Getting the Money?
Things have been heating up as of late in what has so far been an epic transfer window. It recently took an incredible twist as Barcelona snatched Jules Koundé from the jaws of Chelsea, who had long been the frontrunner in the race for his signature, in a deal said to be in the region of €55 million.
This signing takes Barcelona’s spending this summer to roughly €170 million. So far, they have signed Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha, Franck Kessie, and Andreas Christiansen.
According to Italian journalist, Fabrizio Romano, Barcelona are now closing on Marcos Alonso from Chelsea for €10 million.
There are also rumours that they could sign Bernado Silva from Man City as well.
But as the weather map across Europe turns red, the same can be said of Barcelona’s bank balance. The question on virtually everyone’s mind is, how on earth can they afford to sign these players with no money?
It is like someone who owes you a lot of money claiming that he’s poor and penniless one minute, only to then go on a shopping spree down in Oxford Street the next minute. It is something that will certainly raise eyebrows.
Julian Nagelsmann, the Bayern Munich manager, recently echoed this sentiment. The German said in an interview, “it is the only club in the world that have no money, but then buy all the players they want. I don’t know how they do it. It’s a bit strange, a bit crazy.”
The Bayern Munich CEO and former goalkeeper, Oliver Kahn, distanced himself from those comments. But you cannot deny that Nagelsmann has a very valid point.
Barcelona’s debt currently stands at around €1.35 billion and their salary mass is approximately €560 million.
Taking this into account, it is absolutely mind-boggling how they are still able to sign top class players. Something that has mystified football fans across the globe as of late.
Although Barcelona sold Philippe Coutinho to Aston Villa for £17 million, they are still yet to offload many of their big names to raise some money and subsequently reduce their net spend.
Ousmane Dembélé and Sergi Roberto have extended their contracts and are thus staying put.
Manchester United have reached an agreement with Barcelona for Frenkie de Jong in a deal worth €85 million in total, according to Romano. However, the Dutchman has no intention to leave the Camp Nou and is currently owed approximately £17 million due to deferred wages during the covid pandemic.
So, how exactly are Barcelona being able to keep their big-name players, and make big signings despite their crippling debt? The answer certainly is not as convoluted as people will believe.
In March 2022, Barcelona signed a lucrative four-year shirt and stadium sponsorship deal with Spotify worth around €280 million. This ensured that Barcelona have around €70 million to spend this summer.
Also, during a board meeting in June, the club members (‘socios’) approved of Barcelona selling up to 25% of their TV rights for up to 25 years. As it stands, 10% has been sold to US firm, Sixth Street Partners, for €207.5 million.
According to a report in the ‘Financial Times’, this will be followed by an additional €295 million purchase of the remaining 15% of the TV rights.
The socios also approved of the sale of 49.95% of Barça Licensing & Merchandising. However, a deal is yet to be struck after they rejected a €275 million bid as they believe its value is €300 million.
So, this explains the short-term injection of money; hence the recent signings that they have made as of late.
The approach that Barcelona have taken is akin to giving someone a portion of your future salary in exchange for funds here and now, whilst obviously being in debt.
But despite this, there are still so many unanswered questions. For example, why have the board at Barcelona not considered selling the club?
Given their incredibly large fanbase as well as their lofty size, stature, success, stadium, and location, they will undoubtedly attract billionaires from across the globe.
The right owner could write off Barcelona’s substantial debt, relieve the club of this incredibly sizeable burden that has crushed them financially in recent years, replenish their finances, stabilise the club, and allow them to compete more on the big stage.
They could also wipe the slate clean and restore the club’s credibility along with their reputation. There is no doubt that these have been shattered into smithereens recently with the board’s actions as of late.
It makes perfect sense to sell the club. Who knows why the board will not consider to do so?
Furthermore, why aren’t Barcelona using the funds that they have gained to pay de Jong and others what they are owed? This should be one of their biggest priorities, especially as it keeps the peace in the dressing room.
And by going on a spending spree and not paying their players what they are owed, is it possible that they may be sued and taken to court? Gary Neville certainly thinks so based on his tweet from two weeks ago.
What is interesting is that Girondins de Bordeaux, the 2009 Ligue Un champions, have been relegated to the third tier of French football after having a debt of €40 million.
Meanwhile, Derby County have a debt of around £60 million. They went into administration in September 2021 and were docked 21 points. By the end of the league campaign, The Rams finished second from bottled and were relegated to League One.
But not only are Barcelona allowed to splurge in the transfer window, they are also allowed to play in La Liga as well as the Champions League even though their debt is nearly THIRTY FIVE times higher than that of Bordeaux?
And why haven’t Barcelona had a hefty point deduction in La Liga like Derby County? None of this makes sense.
The double standards are extraordinarily shocking, but certainly not surprising. There is one rule for the smaller clubs, another rule for Europe’s elite.
These questions, and many more, that are being asked speak volumes about the way in which Barcelona have been run in recent years. It also exposes just how corrupt UEFA are for allowing this to happen.
Be that as it may, Joan Laporta’s huge spending this summer is a huge gamble. Whether it actually turns out to be a success or an epic failure is anyone’s guess.
If the spending ultimately leads to silverware as expected, it could bring in a new era of success like what we saw after 2003/04 under Frank Rijkaard. This could help stabilise the club financially for the meantime due to the increase in prize money, merchandise, etc.
On the on the other hand, if failure continues as it has in the past few years at the Camp Nou then extremely dark days ahead lie ahead for the Blaugrana. It could potentially leave them in a financial abyss for the foreseeable future.
