Why big-spending Barcelona have even bigger problems lying ahead

There can be little doubt that the most eye-catching side of the summer transfer window has been Barcelona. The Camp Nou side – should they successfully snatch Jules Kounde from Sevilla – will have spent more money than anyone else in world football. What’s more, they will have the biggest net spend of any club in the game this summer. 

As one of the biggest and most famous clubs in the game, that might not come as a great surprise, but then you look at their accounts...

Barcelona’s staggering debts

Barcelona’s financial issues are well known. Due to their policy of handing out large contracts to players and spending extravagantly in the transfer market after Neymar left for PSG for €222million in 2017, the Catalans racked up debts totalling €1.4billion. Ousmane Dembele, Philippe Coutinho and Antoine Griezmann all arrived for more than €100m – all failed to get close to justifying such figures. 

In order to shore up the club, action has been taken. This has ranged from the modest, such as auctioning the naming rights of Camp Nou, to the dramatic, restructuring debt via a massive loan and selling off 25% of their La Liga television rights for the next quarter of a century.

Remarkably, estimates suggest that Barca have sold these off for around 50% of their value – before inflation has even been considered. There is a buy-back option, but the terms on this are unlikely to be favourable. 

And if this does not prove enough money to feed the club’s apparently insatiable desire for instant on-the-field gratification, almost half of the merchandising arm of the club could be next to go. 

Rivals Real Madrid may have been beaten in a recent friendly, but Barcelona face far sterner tests on and off the pitch

Barca’s big transfer spend 

Instead of putting this money into the relief of debt, though, Barcelona have invested it in their squad. Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and, potentially, Kounde will all arrive in massive deals, none of which are immediately obvious as providing value for money.

Certainly, the €45million spent upfront on Lewandowski is wholly dependent on him proving his worth on the field – he is neither a big commercial draw nor a player they are likely to sell on for a significant fee given that he turned 34 in August. Barcelona president Joan Laporta’s tactic appears to be go all-in on the immediately future and hope for the best. 

Of course, all this is being played out as Frenkie de Jong is asked to take a 50% pay cut, which will amount to some €40m over the duration of the four years remaining on his contract. It is a stance that Gary Neville described as “bullying”, telling FIFPro to get on the case. 

“A club spending fortunes on new players whilst not paying the ones they have under contract their full money is immoral,” he claimed on Twitter, doubtless in frustration that Manchester United have made little headway in signing the Netherlands international, despite agreeing a transfer fee for the player that would help recoup some of Barcelona’s summer losses. 

Focus on today, forget about tomorrow 

Of course, Barcelona simply don’t care. As with many football clubs, there is a sense that as long as things are going smoothly on the field, what is happening in the boardroom simply doesn’t matter. Laporta is banking on this to retain support of the club. Indeed, the emphatic manner in which the resolution to sell the television rights was passed by culers, ordinary members of the club, shows that the short-term is almost universally considered more important than the long term wellbeing of the Blaugrana. 

Perhaps there is a sense that they are too big to fail and have earned the right to take a shortcut to success. Barcelona, by the standards they have grown used to, have been starved of silverware lately. Since 2018, they have only one league title and a Copa del Rey to show for their efforts. Little wonder the prospect of restructuring the club from the ground up – potentially a challenge that would take years to recover from – is one that supporters have little appetite for. Better instant gratification. 

And there are problems ahead, too. Camp Nou is a crumbling relic of a stadium that needs a facelift. Barca have recognised this and are ready to embark on a lengthy project named Espai Barca, which will see an overhaul of their facilities. The cost? Around €1.5 billion, which will of course necessitate yet more debt, likely to be structured over 35 years with a market interest rate. 

Barcelona, meanwhile, skip happily on, content to pitch their lot in with the success of this single transfer window, which encompasses a handful of giant signings. Fans appear to be under the illusion that the club’s financial issues have disappeared, when in fact all that they have done is postpone them to a later date.

And all is rosy for now. The 1-0 Clasico victory over Real Madrid was a morale boost to everyone around the club, in part thanks to the dominant nature of the victory but also due to Raphinha’s fine winner. But it was just a friendly. Barcelona’s real battle has yet to begin on the field – and there is a sense that it is only just getting started off it, too.