The 2022-23 League champion expects a favorable result in a key match before the end of the championship. And he is not the one from Valladolid, nor from Mallorca or from Celta, the three that remain. The big event is at the LaLiga offices, where the numbers and intentions proposed by the Blaugrana club to reduce their expenses by 200 million are studied. Barça hopes that it will be in the next few seasons when the employers inform them that they accept their viability plan for the next two seasons, which will allow them to register players as normal.
At the end of April, the Barcelona entity delivered to LaLiga, chaired by Javier Tebas, a dossier with all the measures that the board of directors is willing to take to balance expenditures with ordinary income. The payment reduction package covers the next season and the season after, and also includes significant player sales.
In Barcelona they consider that they have made and will complete all the efforts that were demanded of them to demonstrate their rigorous austerity and that Barcelona has recovered financially. However, it would not be the first time that the criteria do not coincide with those of LaLiga, whose delegated board has recently dealt with the Barcelona case. “Mateu Alemany is working on the issue every day and keeps us informed”, details Xavi, attentive to the progress.
The objective of Barcelona is to register the renewals already agreed -the great priority- and to be able to sign without restrictions to reinforce a squad that this season has won two national titles (League and Super Cup) in order to compete and recover the lost status in Europe.
Gavi, Araújo, Marcos Alonso, Sergi Roberto and Iñaki Peña have their new contracts pending registration. In addition, the renewal of Balde until 2027 is already fully agreed. Especially urgent is the case of the Andalusian midfielder, who has a clause by which he would be released if he was not a member of the first team for legal purposes on July 1.
To do this, Barcelona has committed in writing to Thebes to undertake a new salary reduction in the dressing room with which about 50 million should be saved. The goodbye of Busquets, who had just finished his contract, lightens the crowd, in the same way that he wants to talk to Jordi Alba, who is entering his last year.
The cuts will not only affect football, but the professional sections will tighten their belts. Something similar happens in several areas of FC Barcelona, ​​who know that they must lose weight on their salaries. In this sense, the most drastic formula has been chosen with the closure of Barça TV, the club’s official television. Some professionals will go to the communication department or Barça Studios, but the savings are estimated to exceed ten million. The firmness of Laporta’s board with this measure is one of those that has most convinced LaLiga that Barcelona has understood the message.
Another of the adjustments that can convince the employers is the budget that the blaugrana have projected in player sales. “I think Barça will make good sales this year,” said Javier Tebas himself at the presentation of his entity’s financial report. He knew it first-hand because outputs worth 70 million have been programmed in the feasibility plan. The 20 in which Griezmann’s transfer to Atlético closed before the World Cup break are not included there.
Xavi does not want to get rid of headlines. Ansu Fati, Ferran Torres, Kessié and Eric Garcia are four of the footballers who have participated the least to date, and all of them, except the Valencian striker, would give a high added value. Without forgetting the loanees Abde, Nico, Collado, Lenglet, Umtiti or Dest.
In addition to entering a good amount, for the third summer Barcelona expects that a significant part of its reinforcements will arrive at zero cost. It already happened in the first market of Laporta and Mateu Alemany when Eric Garcia, Agüero and Memphis arrived with the letter of freedom. Last summer, with the same method, they took over Christensen, Kessié and BellerÃn.
Now, Barcelona has another central defender tied up, the Athletic international Iñigo MartÃnez, and hopes to also convince Ilkay Gündogan, a five-time Premier League champion with City. Leo Messi is also free at PSG. Barça sighs for that very special return. “It is in the air. We’ll see if it can happen. It depends on many things, also on Leo’s intentionâ€, Xavi revealed yesterday. But first of all you need to have the green light from LaLiga.
