The board led by Joan Laporta, president of FC Barcelona, ??met yesterday to celebrate the last meeting of the 2022-2023 season. On the table, several important issues. Among these, the guarantee of 6.6 million euros was presented that the board must pay in a joint manner for the non-compliance with the spending cut in the 2022-2023 season. The resignation of ex-director Jaume Llauradó was also accepted, who first resigned as a member of the Espai Barça commission to focus on the Foundation, but who informed President Joan at the beginning of June Laporta intends to permanently leave the board of directors once the season of the first football team is over. The former director participated in the beginning of the meeting to say goodbye.
Beyond the approval of these two points, the board also reviewed the club’s accounts in the midst of a wave of cuts to alleviate an excessive salary mass that prevents signing according to the 1-1 rule (for every salary that comes out, you can enter one of the same). The cuts mentioned affect the professional sections of the entity, except in the case of women’s football, which is the only profitable one; but also the salaries of the club’s executives, who have been told that it would be advisable for them to make an exemplary effort, as is the case in many areas of the club. Finally, the state of the Espai Barça works and the move to the Montjuïc Olympic Stadium were discussed in a meeting that began at 2 p.m. at the club’s offices and ended after 6 p.m. with the following conclusions and with several pending duties.
The board of directors certified at the meeting the presentation of a joint guarantee of 6.670 million euros for a failure to cut spending, according to LaLiga, of the economic planning plan for the 2022-2023 season. Before June 30, the organization had to comply with the cuts presented at the time to LaLiga both in terms of men’s, women’s and training football as well as in terms of the professional sections. Of the 108 million euros budgeted, the entity had to go to 98 million, but the club was left with 104 million due to the departure of the sections that had not been reduced by following the established plan. At the club, they calculate that with the departure of Nikola Mirotic, who earned around 10 million gross per year, and with the non-renewal of coach Sarunas Jasikevicius, it will be possible to guarantee that the managers will recover the contribution. However, the duration of the endorsement is one year and he will not be able to be released until the last day of the 2023-2024 season. With the move, the club ensures that it will be able to register the renewed players, but not the already announced Ilkay Gündogan and the signing of Iñigo Martínez, still pending officialisation.
The organization is working to reduce the wage bill to 531 million euros for the next season. 51 of the 531 million correspond to the salaries of loaned footballers who Xavi does not have and who have a current contract. They are Lenglet, Umtiti and Dest, from the first team, and Àlex Collado and Gustavo Maia, from the subsidiary. 91 million more of the 531 correspond to the expenses of the sections. Despite the efforts, the club’s structural debt remains around 1.35 billion euros. In order to further lighten the wage bill, the intention of the Blaugrana leadership is to reduce the salaries of executives by at least 10%. A measure that several voices in the club have requested to set an example and that has been discussed for a few weeks.
Before the meeting, the president Joan Laporta led the board’s visit to the Spotify Camp Nou works a month ago since the start of the fine-tuning work. The works are being developed according to the planned deadlines. According to the calculations of Barça and Limak, the Turkish firm in charge of the reconstruction, the demolition work of the third tier will progress throughout the summer together with the movement of earth, retaining walls and foundations for the construction of the new stadium “There are no obstacles or unforeseen events, we are satisfied because the pace of the works is going well. We will have a renovated Camp Nou that will be the best stadium in the world”, explained Laporta. At the same time, the Montjuïc Olympic Stadium, the temporary home of Xavi’s Barça until at least November 2024, has also accelerated to adapt the Olympic venue to the needs of the club and the requirements requested by LaLiga. Work on the playing field began in December, the drainage, irrigation and water treatment system was changed. At the moment, the assembly of the commentators’ stands and the installation of the access gates to the stadium is being completed.
