Barcelona: Barcelona President Joan Laporta have been trying to recover from their financial issues for quite some time. They were determined to bring Lionel Messi back since the late 2022-23 season. They had to get La Liga’s ‘yes’ on their viability plans. While they lost the chance to bring back Leo Messi, they still managed to get La Liga’s approval on their 2-year viability plan. They have already reduced €126 million and are on their way to reduce more from their wage bill. Follow La Liga LIVE Updates on InsideSport.IN.
At the peak of their financial issues, Barcelona’s wage bill was rumoured to be €656 million. When President Laporta took over, it was €616 million. Since his arrival at the club, Laporta has tried to decrease the wage bill. As per reports, he has managed to bring it down by €126 million. Recently, he said they will keep working to bring it down more in the next two years. He said, “We have to continue reducing the wage bill to make a competitive team.”
He added, “We’ll continue to make efforts and we will achieve it. We‘ve managed to get La Liga approve our viability plan for the next 2 years.” In their efforts, Barcelona have said goodbye to their veteran players – Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets at the end of the 2022-23 season. They are still planning to sell 5-6 more players in order to lower their wages further. The list of players includes names like Ferran Torres, Raphinha, Ansu Fati, Samuel Umtiti, and more.
Their target is to bring down their wage bill to at least €450-70 million. As per reports, they have mentioned that around €90 million of that is involved in their other sporting projects. They have also mentioned that cut back end those departments have already been made. They have attributed around €50 million of that to the loan players who are set to be returning this summer transfer window. Barcelona will also try to make some money from these returning loan players.
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In any case, Barcelona will have to continue to reduce their wage bill in order to stabilize their financial situation. They have been asking their players to lower their wages. Many players, deservedly have not agreed to this. Additionally, since the arrival of coach Xavi, Barcelona have been trying to improve their situation in domestic and international competitions. They have won La Liga and the Spanish Super Cup in the 2022-23 season. However, they couldn’t even progress from the Champions League group stage.
As they qualified for Europa League, they were knocked out by Manchester United in the play-off round. They progressed to the Copa Del Rey semi-final, but then they were knocked out by Real Madrid. Hence, they will need to improve a lot and for that, they will have to bring in some talented players. However, they will not be able to afford such players unless they stabilize their financial situation. Although, it seems that Barcelona are on their way to making some good progress towards that target.
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