Barcelona currently occupies seventh place in LaLiga with a salary cap of €97 million, according to figures from El Partidazo de COPE. The Catalans were able to spend 347 million euros on salaries last season, taking second place behind Real Madrid. Where the salary ceiling of the Royal has risen sharply over the past year, Barcelona has a lot less to spend.
The reason that Barcelona is allowed to spend no less than 250 million euros less on salaries has everything to do with the dire financial situation of the club. With the prescribed salary cap, LaLiga wants to prevent clubs from spending money irresponsibly. The salary ceiling is based on turnover and money that the club has in cash. For example, a club may spend more than it earns on turnover, but only if the amount that is exceeded is four times in the cash.
?? Noticia @partidazocope
?? information @isaacfouto
?? Limits wages de la temporada 2021/2022 que @LaLiga hará publicos manana
?? El @FCBarcelona pasa del 2º al 7º (97M€)
?? El @RealMadrid se dispara a loose 739M€
?? El @ValenciaCF, ultimo (30M€)
?? #PartidazoCOPE pic.twitter.com/Qm04Ibrg8v
— El Partidazo de COPE (@partidazocope) September 28, 2021
At the same time, exceeding the salary ceiling means that a club will have less to spend in the following season. The amount overpaid in salaries is deducted from the next salary ceiling. Conversely, clubs that are below their salary ceiling will have to spend the amount extra a season later. It explains the huge difference between the current salary cap of Real Madrid and Barcelona.
The situation of Barcelona is well known: partly due to the corona pandemic, the club has to deal with huge losses, therefore has little cash in hand and will probably have exceeded its salary ceiling last season. Due to the drastically reduced salary cap, it took until the very last moment for signings Memphis Depay, Sergio Aguero and Eric García to be signed, as Barcelona depended on other players who handed in salary. In addition, Lionel Messi could not be registered due to this modest salary cap, after which he was forced to leave for Paris Saint-Germain.
Conversely, Real Madrid has managed to limit the financial consequences of the corona pandemic. In the past two seasons the Royal hardly suffered any losses, as a result of which the salary ceiling has increased from 473 million euros to 739 million euros. Real Madrid is followed by Sevilla (200 million euros), Atlético Madrid (171 million euros), Villarreal (159 million euros) and Real Sociedad (127 million euros). Also striking is the location of Valencia. Last season had loose Che still a salary ceiling of 93 million euros, but that is now 30 million euros and with that the last place is occupied. Even the PhD students have more to spend on salaries than Valencia.