The Spanish giants have yet another giant, growing in form of a depressing debt crisis."As of March 21, 2021, the debt was € 1.35billion," Barcelona president Joan Laporta said in a news conference on Monday. "To the initial debt of € 617million you have to add € 389m on players, € 90million in litigation, € 79million in advance television rights and € 56million from the 'Espai Barca' project. In total, it's € 1.35bn. Our salaries represent 103 per cent of the club's total income. That's 20-25 per cent more than our competitors." He added.
Laporta also went ahead to blame former president, Josep Bartomeu who held the helm at the Camp Nou for six years. This ultimately led to the departure of their greatest player, Lionel Messi adding more salt to injury. Bartomeu resigned last year amid financial struggles, but recently published a letter in which he denied any wrongdoing during his administration.
Nearly € 390million of Barcelona's debt is related to player salaries, while more than €670 million was debts with banks, and another € 40million was linked to membership losses. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was also € 91million, Laporta said. The Spanish president also said the club intends to reduce salaries by about € 200million and focus on promoting youth players. This summer, Barcelona signed a number of high-profile free agents, including Sergio Aguero, Memphis Depay, and Eric Garcia.
Barcelona's Top defender Gerard Piqué said on Sunday that he had taken a salary reduction by almost half to allow the club to register some of its new players ahead of their first game against Real Sociedad. Other veteran players such as Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba, and Sergi Roberto were expected to do the same.