why is the League now punishing the club with an abysmal drop in the salary cap?

2023-09-14 20:41:17

Barcelona La Liga has set Barça’s salary ceiling for this season at 270 million euros. In other words, this is what the football governing body believes the club should be able to spend on sports salaries to be sustainable. A figure that contrasts with that of Real Madrid, which can invest more than twice as much as the Barcelona club. Specifically, 450 million more: the white group has seen its margin increase to 727 million. Differences that highlight Barça’s delicate economic situation. But these data, despite the fact that they are particularly bloody, have not taken Joan Laporta by surprise.

From the club they were aware that there would be such a severe drop – the salary limit has gone from 649 million to 270 million, which means a reduction of 379 million – given the economic reality of the entity. The decline must be understood because, although Barça expects to close last year’s financial year (2022-23) with revenues of 1.225 million euros, the revenue forecast for the current season (2023- 24) is much smaller. The main reason for this difference is that the 2022-23 financial year had the first two levers economic conditions that Laporta activated in the summer of 2022 and which entailed the sale of 25% of the League’s television rights for 25 years to Sixth Street. This operation made it possible to wipe out the negative net worth and, thanks to this, strengthen the squad with several top players, such as Lewandowski, Kounde and Raphinha.

The drop in revenue for this season (2023-24), therefore, explains this unprecedented salary cap (270 million). The main reason lies in the fact that it has been a summer without levers, to which must be added the decrease in income that comes from having gone from playing in a stadium like the Camp Nou to playing in Montjuïc. The club has calculated that the change of home will mean losses of around 50 million euros.

All of this also explains why Barça continues to exceed in terms of fair play, despite having made a cut of 161.7 million from the salary mass of the first football team (going from 566.4 million in the 2022-23 year to 404.7 million for the current season). The farewell of footballers such as Busquets, Alba and Dembélé has had a direct impact on this cut in the wage bill, which the president of the League, Javier Tebas, applauded this Wednesday and described as a “great effort”. To the 404.7 million of the salary mass corresponding to the first team must also be added another 90 million corresponding to the rest of the sports salaries – subsidiary, women’s and sections – which also have an impact on the fair play.

Vitor Roque in January, complicated but not impossible

All in all, Barça has a neck down that will continue to be exceeded in the next market, in January. The objective that Laporta has proposed is to stop it from next summer and, therefore, to be able to return to the 1:1 rule, which means that everything that is entered and saved in the sale of players can be devoted entirely to new wages. For now, however, the club is still surplus and this collides directly with the arrival of Vitor Roque in January, as well as with the registrations of the new contracts of Gavi – it is registered due to a precautionary measure – and of Lamine Yamal.

Therefore, the arrival of the Brazilian ram already in January – and, also, squaring the budget at the end of the year – is subject to the fact that the club achieves more extraordinary income in sponsorships and commercial agreements, as well as the arrival of the 40 million outstanding from Libero Finance Football that must allow Barça to go public. Although the German fund has missed all payment deadlines so far, the entity remains optimistic that they will eventually pay. The restructuring of Frenkie de Jong’s contract – with whom talks have already started – should also help in the fair play. The other way would be through the sale of a player and the entry of a good transfer.