Barcelona has devised a construction to recruit Erling Braut Haaland next summer, the Spanish reported Goal Wednesday. According to reports, the Catalans have their sights on the Norwegian striker, who could be acquired through the partial sale of Barça Studios, the media production company owned by the club. The construction is said to have already been discussed with LaLiga, which reportedly agrees to the plans. Haaland can leave Borussia Dortmund next summer as los Azulgrana comply with the surrender clause of 75 million euros.
The route to snare Haaland has already been mapped out. Since last season, Barcelona has been struggling with strict Financial Fair PlayLaLiga rules, which have made buying and subsequently signing up players no easier. Previously, the registration of Memphis Depay and Sergio Aguero, among others, was a big problem, in the winter transfer period attracting Ferran Torres and Dani Alves has led to the necessary headaches and inventive constructions. Due to the limited financial resources and the lack of space in the salary system, attracting Haaland seems an illusion, but Barcelona have found a method to take over the attacker from Dortmund next summer and directly register in La Liga.
Barcelona has entered into talks with the management of LaLiga, presumably with President Javier Tebas, among others, to make the wishes clear: Haaland must be incorporated. According to Goal, which has spoken to high-ranking names within LaLiga, the solution is relatively simple. The club would have to sell Barça Studios, which it currently owns 100 percent. “If you sell it, you have the solution,” it sounds from LaLiga. The sale of 49 percent of the shares should yield 100 million euros. An interesting construction that brings the attraction of Haaland closer to reality. However, there is still one crease that needs to be ironed out.
What’s the problem? The player contracts state that the players can monetize portrait rights. This means that all players have the freedom to sell their portrait rights to large companies, which, for example, use the footballers for advertising purposes, without Barcelona making any money. For example, the club cannot make a documentary of Gerard Piqué, as the defender has sold his portrait rights to a company. That is a stumbling block for the potential buyers of Barça Studios, as without the portrait rights of the players there may be too little value in the company. In order to give the media production company a value injection, Barcelona has started negotiations with players to buy back the portrait rights. In this way, the club hopes to simplify and speed up the search process for an interested buyer of Barça Studios.
Barcelona can therefore pay for Haaland’s surrender clause with the income from the sale of the production company. In addition, the club also receives a windfall with regard to salary management. Partly because of the large losses in the 2020/21 season, the Catalans had to make do with a salary budget of ‘only’ 98 million euros this football year, but the salary ceiling will be raised significantly next season. According to the reporting of Goal Barcelona’s salary limit will rise to 400 million euros from next football year.