Javier Tebas, the chief of La Liga, stated that Barcelona will be unable to sign any players this summer due to a transfer ban. This news comes after Barcelona’s win against Real Madrid in the first leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final. This was secured after an own goal from Eder Militao.
However, the situation seems to be far from normal. Tebas has been critical of Barcelona’s financial management and has claimed that the club is in dire straits. He stated that the club is spending too much money on player wages and that it needs to be more responsible with its spending. This led to speculation that the club may face further financial penalties or sanctions.
After Barcelona’s exit from the Europa League at the hands of Manchester United, there are growing concerns about the club’s financial situation.
Why is Barcelona facing this situation?
La Liga head Tebas said:
“As of today, Barcelona doesn’t have any room in its budget to spend in the upcoming transfer window.”
“Barcelona has been involved in questionable behaviour which has had an impact on LaLiga and we are acting accordingly. We have ruled that they can no longer sign more players.”
“They sold off £620m (€700m) in TV rights and tried to find different ways to solve the situation but they won’t be able to do that next season. We have strict economic controls. At the end of each window, we tell all the clubs in LaLiga what they can spend.”
“In the case of Barcelona, they have to drop from spending on wages and transfers from £532m to £399m (€650m to €450m), so it’s a budget of minus £177m (€200m).”
“They have to reduce their investment in players and we have encouraged them to sell players because, for every amount they raise in sales, they can spend 40 per cent of that.”
Barcelona’s financial struggles have led to the requirement of raising £178 million through player sales. This is in order to have a chance of entering the summer transfer market. However, even if they manage to sell players for that amount, they will only be allowed to spend 40% of it, which is around £71 million. The situation seems to suggest that it will be another challenging summer for Xavi’s team, despite the possibility of winning La Liga. Barcelona will have to go through a fire-sale at the end of the season to sell enough players so that they can compete in the transfer market.
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