Barcelona, Sept. 10 (BNA): La Liga has raised Barcelona’s spending limit by 800 million euros ($803 million), to come out of a spending deficit after the Catalan team sold parts of assets to fix its finances, La Liga reported. .
Barcelona had a cap of €96m last year, which by January was reduced to €144m – meaning the team had to find savings elsewhere to sign new players – after accumulating €1.35bn in debt and future liabilities, with reported Reuters that 673 million owed to banks.
As a result of the financial turnaround, the league said on Friday that it had given Barcelona a cap of €656 million for the 2022-23 season.
To make up for losses and comply with LaLiga’s financial fair play rules, Barcelona sold 25% of its domestic television rights to US investment firm Sixth Street over the next 25 years in two deals worth more than 500 million euros.
The club raised an additional €200 million from the sale of a 49% stake in Barca Studios in two separate deals, while also signing a long-term sponsorship deal with streaming giant Spotify in March.
This allowed Barcelona to spend more than €150m on Robert Lewandowski, Ravenha and Jules Conde, while Andreas Christensen, Frank Kessie, Hector Bellerin and Marcos Alonso all arrived on free transfers.
La Liga president Javier Tebas said Barcelona will continue to reduce his salary bill to maintain the spending limit for next season.
“Without (selling assets) it may not be very high next season,” Tebas told reporters. “They may have to cut their expenses by about 200 million euros by selling players or even (selling more) assets.”
Asked if LaLiga was too generous in meeting the club’s needs, Tebas said: “Not at all. The same rules apply to all clubs in Spain. To register Conde, the Barcelona president had to provide a personal guarantee.
“Is there a risk of bankruptcy? In my opinion, I don’t think so, at all. They have a high wage bill but plenty of equity, though…the wage bill.”
Real Madrid has the highest spending ceiling in the league at 683 million euros, while Atletico Madrid is third behind Barcelona with 341 million euros.
LaLiga spending limit accounts for the maximum amount clubs can spend on salaries, bonuses and depreciation payments on transfers throughout the season.
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