La Liga president Javier Tebas has put Barcelona’s financial crisis in blunt terms as he warns the Catalan club over new signings.
Barca find themselves at a debt figure of around €1billion, and re-elected president Joan Laporta has the difficult job of attempting to correct ship while keeping the squad as competitive as possible.
Free signings have helped the Catalans this summer, Sergio Aguero, Eric Garcia and Memphis Depay already signing on for nothing, while Lionel Messi looks likely to extend his deal by two years.
But around 40% over the league’s wage cap, it’s sales that Barcelona need, especially if Messi’s big contract remains on the books for another two years.
Big-earners like Ousmane Dembélé, Philippe Coutinho and even Antoine Griezmann could find themselves sacrificed for the sake of Barca’s efforts to climb back into the black, and La Liga boss Tebas has now warned fans expecting the club to reinvest any transfer fees receives that it simply will not be possible.
Explaining La Liga’s financial rules and the tricky scenario Barca find themselves in, Tebas told El Transistor, via Mundo Deportivo: “We have a special procedure for when a club goes over its salary established by La Liga, where clubs can only include players who represent 25% of the savings.
“If Barca sell a player for €100million, they can only spend €25million.
“If Barca receives €10million on a sale, they can only spend €2.5million on a new signing.
“If Barcelona want to bring in a player who costs them €25million per season in salary, they must earn, either by transfer or by a salary reduction, €100 million.”
Speaking about how the rules impact Barca’ bloated squad, Tebas added: “They have to reduce salaries in the squad considerably or produce fees from sold players.
“Publically, I cannot tell of the plan Barcelona have.
“They know that if they don’t sell an important player of the current squad that they have players with contracts in force that they cannot include.”
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