The 'déjà vu' that haunts Laporta's Barça

BarcelonaBarça's financial fair play went up in smoke in 2020. With the pandemic and closed stadiums, revenues fell and the club was left with no capacity to pay player salaries. In 2021, with Joan Laporta in the box, the decision to tweak the numbers and load up to 555 million in losses onto the fiscal year that had started with Bartomeu as president, only aggravated the problem to the extreme. Five years later, and despite having activated levers, having fine-tuned the wage bill, and having closed low cost, the club is heading towards another summer with problems to face the transfer market normally.

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However, even if the numbers add up at the end of the season, reaching the 1:1 rule does not automatically solve the problems. More things are needed. Outside of this rule, being over the limit – which had happened in recent years – Barça could only sign by taking advantage of a small percentage of player sales. By reaching 1:1, they can spend everything that comes into the coffers. But, equally, they need to sell players to generate the essential income to sign other players. Therefore, departures are needed, and both Marc Casadó and Ferran Torres are two of the footballers who are on the way out. In general terms, and excluding star names like Lamine, Pedri, Cubarsí, or Joan, Barça is willing to listen to any offer they may receive. From here, the conditions will determine whether to accept a sale or not. The club has also offered a renewal – with a significantly reduced salary – to Robert Lewandowski, which would extend for only one more season. The feeling in the azulgrana hierarchy, as of today, is that the Pole – who wants to keep competing – will not continue at azulgrana.

Low-cost signings and market opportunities

The other player is Andreas Christensen. The 30-year-old Danish center-back will take a few months to return because he has a knee injury. Under normal circumstances, his contract would expire and he would leave for free, but at Barça they are considering the option of offering him a renewal with a view to a medium-term sale. He is a player with a good reputation, and if, once recovered, he can get playing time, he will increase in value and Barça could cash in. Currently, he has a market value of 9 million, but just a year ago the figure was 40 million, according to data from the specialized portal Transfermarkt.

Wage space will need to be freed up and cash generated if Hansi Flick is to be provided with reinforcements. As no imminent windfall of millions is expected, Barça is heading towards another summer with low-cost signings or market opportunities, a scenario that allowed, for example, the signing of Joan Garcia. The center-forward position – with Julián Álvarez as the most sought-after player by Joan Laporta, but economically very complicated because Atlético de Madrid does not want to sell him, and certainly not cheaply – is one of the three positions Barça wants to strengthen this summer. The others are in defense. For the center-back position, the chosen player is Bastoni (Inter), and for the full-back, Cambiaso (Juve), for whom Deco will have to negotiate down the 70 and 50 million requested by the respective clubs. The glorious eras when they could sign with a flick of the checkbook are in the past.