“Barcelona” does not pass registration – Newspaper Kommersant No. 142 (7343) dated 08/06/2022

Barcelona are in serious trouble. After a massive transfer campaign that saw them secure stars such as Robert Lewandowski, Jules Kunde and Rafinha, the Catalan club is still unable to sign them due to non-compliance with the Spanish financial fair play rules. The sale of some of Barcelona’s assets was not enough to resolve the issue, and it is possible that the club, as in the past season, will have to ask some of its veterans to take a pay cut for the sake of the future.

The fact that the leadership of Barcelona will ask some of its players, and above all two veterans – Sergio Busquets and Gerard Pique, to take a pay cut, said El Mundo Deportivo. In fact, his information complements that which has previously appeared in a number of Spanish media resources. They all insist that Barcelona faced a serious problem this summer.

The Catalans had a shock transfer campaign. During it, Barcelona managed to acquire, along with Milan midfielder Frank Kessier and Chelsea defender Andreas Christensen, who joined the team in free agent status, another defensive player – Jules Kunde from Sevilla, a promising winger with enormous potential Leeds Rafinho and even the best football player in the world according to the International Football Federation (FIFA), the main sniper of world football Robert Lewandowski from Bayern, having spent a total of almost €200 million on three transfers. Meanwhile, the club still cannot register newcomers .

The catch is that the Spanish Football Federation believes that Barcelona do not comply with its financial fair play regulations, the principles of which are similar to those long used by the Union of European Associations (UEFA) until recently. They suggest that the club must be as close to break-even as possible.

However, “Barcelona” has not yet got rid of the consequences of the acute crisis that it experienced at the turn of the decades. It had, among other things, a powerful financial component: the debts of the Catalans at the peak of the coronavirus pandemic went off scale for € 1 billion, and until recently it was impossible to imagine it being as active on the market as this summer.

The wiggle room for president Joan Laporte and coach Xavi has been secured by a series of deals, selling a quarter of his TV rights and a similar stake in Barca Studios, which creates creative content for the club. In total, they have already brought Barcelona about €500 million. At the same time, it intends to put up for sale another 25% stake in Barca Studios for €100 million.

However, El Mundo Deportivo claims that even these revenues did not satisfy the Spanish Football Federation and did not help to finally resolve the issue with club debts. To comply with the financial fair play, Barcelona can only try to persuade the players to agree to a temporary pay cut. To this end, Joan Laporta, club vice-president Rafa Yuste and sporting director Mateo Alemani have already held meetings with Sergio Busquets and Gerard Pique, who, as captains, should set an example for others.

At the same time, the publication notes that Barcelona has already managed to convince the players to do so. And not only in 2020, when the shutdown of the season due to the pandemic led to huge financial losses, but also in 2021. At the time, Barcelona needed funds to secure contracts with Memphis Depay and Eric Garcia, and Piqué “cooperated” with management by approving a deferral of contract payments. Spanish sources suggest that Barcelona personally owe him over €50 million.

Alexey Dospekhov