Barcelona has far exceeded the salary cap set by LaLiga and is not allowed to register new players in the competition for the time being, Spanish media reported. The club is struggling with a ‘poisoned legacy’ from Josep Maria Bartomeu, who, as a former president, allowed the salary costs to rise enormously. The problem is not easy to solve: Barcelona has to get rid of several high earners, but for the time being there is hardly any interest.
Due to LaLiga regulations, Barcelona is currently not allowed to register new players, please know Goal. This means that the signings of Sergio Aguero, Memphis Depay, Eric Garcia and Emerson Royal cannot be entered for the competition. Lionel Messi’s contract was formally terminated on July 1. It seems that Barcelona will agree a new contract with the star player, but Messi is also not allowed to be registered at that time: the Argentinian is also considered a ‘new addition’.
So far, no one has reported for Samuel Umtiti.
Due to financial problems at the club, Barcelona is only allowed to reinvest 25 percent of its savings in the salary of new players. The club has now said goodbye to five players: Junior Firpo (sold for fifteen million euros to Leeds United), Francisco Trinçao (on loan with option to buy to Wolverhampton Wanderers), Konrad de la Fuente (sold for three million euros to Olympique Marseille). , Jean Claire Todibo (sold to OGC Nice for 8.5 million euros plus 5.5 million euros in variables) and Matheus Fernandes. The latter’s contract was unilaterally terminated, entitling the 23-year-old midfielder to €4.2 million. Fernandes is also taking legal action to challenge his dismissal.
In total, Barcelona saves about 25 million euros by sending the five away. The savings on wage costs and depreciation are also taken into account. Although Barcelona has some air with the departure of the five players, a saving of 25 million euros is not nearly enough. The real cuts have to be made on three superfluous high earners, namely Samuel Umtiti, Miralem Pjanic and Philippe Coutinho.
Miralem Pjanic presses the budget with a salary of sixteen million euros.
Umtiti and Pjanic have since been told to leave Barcelona on a free transfer, but no club has been able to pay the players a comparable salary. Umtiti earns twenty million euros gross per year from Barcelona, while Pjanic is on the payroll for sixteen million euros. With a transfer fee of 135 million euros, Coutinho is the most expensive purchase in club history: Barcelona annually writes off 28 million euros on the Brazilian. The club hopes to rent out Coutinho to be released from his salary of fourteen million euros per year, but in that case will remain bound by the enormous depreciation.
Should Barcelona be freed from Umtiti, Pjanic and Coutinho, that would mean a saving of around 64 million euros, on top of the 25 million euros already saved with the departure of the aforementioned five. That would mean that Barcelona can sign up for 22.2 million euros in new player salaries, insufficient for all acquisitions: Barça got Aguero (with a salary of twelve million euros gross per year), Depay (twelve million euros per year), Garcia (two million euros per year) and Emerson (three million euros per year).
If Messi’s contract is not renewed, Barcelona would save more than 100 million euros in one fell swoop, but Joan Laporta has no intention of doing that. The question is how the president wants to get the salary house of Barcelona in order. Even if Messi makes a huge loss, the 34-year-old Argentinian does not fit within the salary ceiling that LaLiga has imposed. Barcelona has opened talks with Javier Tebas, the president of LaLiga, in the hope of leniency.