Barcelona are under increasing pressure to find a way to save €300m in costs or face a dire financial situation.
The club’s interim president Carlos Tusquets has spoken in public for the first time since taking the reins last week, and he is now charged with the unenviable task of finding ways to save money across all departments of the club of which wage cuts are central.
A report published in Diario Sport, which outlined the first appearance of Tusquets since assuming the role, now claims that €300m must be saved for the club to avoid a financial crisis.
“We do not want to take money from anyone,” Tusquets explained, in quotes carried by the report.
“We have to reduce short-term expenses. We hope to reach an agreement with the players and with all the club’s staff on the salary negotiation process.
“The essential thing at the moment is to lower expenses and look for forms of income that do not exist at the moment.
“One of the basic aspects that provide income is tourism, even moreso than television rights. In the last year, before the pandemic, the club had raised €220m from the Camp Nou – that is impossible this year.
“All the decisions we take may be revoked by the board of directors that come into the club once the next elections have been held.”
In more encouraging news for the club, Tusquets added that the possibility of filing bankruptcy “is not real at this time.”
Luis Suarez, Arturo Vidal, Arthur Melo, Rafinha Alcantara and Nelson Semedo are among the players who have left the club this summer, with the club record alarming financial results for the past year with debt doubling.
Those raft of players exits reduced the club’s wage bill significantly for this season, with Diario Sport saying the gross reduction stands at a grand total of €80m compared to last year.
