Much of the last 18 months at Barcelona have had fans doing their own amateur accounting to work out exactly how many and which players they can actually sign, or more accurately, fit into their salary limit. Apparently the actual accountants have not fared much better.
The Blaugrana have been hit with a fine of €800k for breaching the salary limit on three separate occasions in the last 12 months. As per Diari Ara (via Goal), the contracts given to Dani Alves, Andreas Christensen and Ronald Araujo all took them over the line.
Barcelona, as seems to be the case these days, have gone to court over the sanctions. In the case of Alves, he was on the league minimum salary and not registered until January. Christensen was signed before the transfer wind opened in July of 2022, but not registered, for which La Liga say he counts towards the 2021-22 season, whereas Barcelona dispute that it should be counted in the 2022-23 accounts. The Azulgrana have taken the matter to a second instance committee run by the RFEF.
This is not the first time that La Liga and Barcelona have clashed over an interpretation of the rules. The relationship between the two has been strained of late, with Barcelona in absentia, save for a representative lawyer, at the latest La Liga AGM. Eight new rules regarding salary limits will come into place this January, in what many see as a way of preventing Barcelona’s method of circumventing the limits by selling assets.
