Javier Tebas, president of league organizer LaLiga, has issued a warning to Barcelona. According to him, the Catalan superpower must very quickly put the salary system in order to ensure that Lionel Messi can be registered for the 2021/22 season. Like many clubs, Barcelona has been hit hard by the corona crisis, with a debt that had risen to almost a billion euros in January.
With the contract that expires soon, Messi has been able to add no less than 555 million euros in the past four years. With a possible new deal, such amounts are no longer possible at the Camp Nou, Tebas judges. “Barcelona has exceeded the wage ceiling,” it sounds in the Spanish media. “I hope they can keep Messi on board, but then there will have to be cuts in player salaries. We will not be flexible with the salaries that Barcelona uses. Those rules will remain the same and will not be adjusted especially for Messi.”
Barcelona is ‘very concerned’ and borrows 525 million euros
A loan has since been taken out with the American bank Goldman Sachs.
“Barcelona will therefore quickly have to do something about the debt that is outstanding”, Tebas once again puts forward. “If that works, then I think there is little to worry about. The problem is that salaries have reached the ceiling now. And where other clubs have taken measures to prevent further problems, nothing has been done at Barcelona to prevent the loss. to halt income. Measures have now become necessary. Of the 700 million euros in loss in LaLiga, half is attributable to Barcelona. Other top clubs have taken measures to prevent further loss, for example Real Madrid managed not to let the loss amount to that of Barcelona, the leader in debt,” said the concerned Tebas.
LaLiga decided in November last year that a total of €610 million should be cut in salaries at all clubs in Spain. Barcelona’s salary ceiling was lowered to 382 million euros, while the amount was still 671 million euros in the 2019/20 year. At the time, a salary cut was quickly introduced by Barcelona, in order to be able to keep 175 million euros. On Sunday evening it was announced that a loan of 525 million euros has been taken out with the American bank Goldman Sachs and the Catalans can reportedly have the amount from August.
“We are all very concerned because we have discovered a very high debt and have to start working with many parties,” President Joan Laporta told the members’ meeting on Sunday. The loan is therefore taken out to solve the financial problems in the short term. Reportedly, the loan amount of 525 million euros must be repaid within fifteen years. Of the 659 socios eligible to vote, 588 voted in favor of the plans surrounding the loan, 28 votes were counted against and 43 members submitted a blank vote.