When the president of Barcelona, Joan Laporta, spoke of the ‘Very worrying’ debt of £1.15bn Last summer was a dark time for one of world football’s great institutions.
That public omission came the week after Barca’s best player, Lionel Messi, left, even though Laporta had virtually guaranteed the Argentine and his father Jorge that a new contract would be signed.
Barca’s financial situation was so perilous that two weeks later they loaned Antoine Griezmann to Atletico Madrid, two years after spending £107m to take him in the opposite direction. There were also efforts to get rid of striker Ousmane Dembele worth £135.5m. It seemed that the club team was being torn apart.
And yet, seven months later, there is optimism at the Camp Nou.
Yes, they are out of the Champions League and find themselves in the unknown environment of the Europa League.
Yes, they are out of the Copa del Rey. And yes, they are 15 points behind league leaders and fierce rivals Real Madrid, whom they will face on Sunday in a Clasico that, for once, is likely to have little bearing on the La Liga title race. .
But at least a brighter future is emerging, one that seemed barely believable last summer.
Fighting from the financial brink
In Laporta, Barcelona have a man who has been here before.
He was first elected president in 2003, finding a club at its lowest point, in debt and deeply unhappy and disappointed by players and fans alike. The trophy case had remained unopened since 1999.
Returning to the role just over a year ago, Laporta would have been forgiven for thinking that things couldn’t have been so bad this time.
In fact, they were much, much worse.
When the figures were finally revealed, they showed that the debt exceeded one billion pounds, thanks to disastrous mismanagement, both in the transfer market and in the negotiation of player contracts.
Drastic measures were called for.
In his first spell in office, Laporta’s approach had helped Barcelona become a major force again, winning two La Liga titles and the Champions League in 2006 for the second time in its history.
Will history repeat itself? Perhaps, but a fascinating question is at what long-term cost to the club and its identity?
Will Barcelona still be among the subscribers at the end of this process? Remember, the club is owned by the members, which means that no one individual has complete control and members are encouraged to contribute to key strategic decisions.
This week’s announcement that the Nou Camp will be renamed Spotify Nou Camp from next season was met with disdain by some, but Barca are in no position to sniff out a deal worth £55.5m at the moment. year for four years.
There is a suggestion that a disagreement over the terms of this deal is why chief executive Ferran Reverter recently resigned, though he was quick to say he wanted to “spend more time on personal and family projects”.
Ultimately, the differences have to do mainly with the way Laporta handles things, often following his instincts and not always delegating or consulting with anyone on important decisions.
Laporta has at least brought with him a positive, sometimes unrealistic attitude. That doesn’t really matter as long as he keeps saying what the Catalan people and media want to hear because, coming from such a low place, any kind of optimism was always going to be welcomed.
Laporta remains optimistic, brave and bellicose and now talks of building another avant-garde dynasty that will establish Barcelona once again as one of Europe’s elites.
But let’s not work under any misunderstanding. Barcelona are still massively in debt and would estimate a sum of around £2.26bn if you take into account the £1.26bn loan for a much-needed renovation of the dilapidated Camp Nou, a project that had already started, but it changed. under the direction of the new president.
Heavily involved in this is Goldman Sachs, who had previously stepped in and helped with debt restructuring with a loan of over £419m.
By my calculations, that means Goldman Sachs now has a stake in the club amounting to around £1.7bn. Won’t they at some point, with such a massive involvement in a club with a budget of around £628m, want to be an important part of the decision-making process?
An agreement put in place by La Liga is also currently being negotiated which buys an 8.2% stake in the club’s audiovisual rights from the limited company CVC, amounting to around £13.4m over the next 50 years. years. The club originally rejected the deal but recently suggested they are now considering signing it.
It has been reported that by accepting him they will receive a financial boost of around £226m, money that will allow the club to make more signings and raise their salary cap, as well as cut losses and balance the books this season.
Also for sale are parts of Barca Studios, the section of the club that centralizes the creation, production and marketing of Barcelona’s audiovisual production, and includes the management of the club’s television channel Barca TV.
Whichever path the club decides to take, the reality is that it is still selling off parts of the family silver.
The result of all this is that, once all this restructuring is done, a different club and another institution may well emerge. And the reality is that, according to the club, they have no choice but to go this route if they want to compete with what La Liga boss Javier Tebas has described as state clubs such as Manchester City and Paris St-Germain.
The good news is that new funds are coming in and with the sale of players – Philippe Coutinho is expected to remain in the Premier League – and salaries that will depend more than before on bonuses and goals, Barcelona feel they can settle the accounts. of debt and increase the competitiveness of the squad.
When? No one can say, but it will take a few years.
The appointment of Xavi ‘a marriage of convenience’
A start to the season, which included four wins from their opening 10 league games and Champions League defeats by Bayern Munich and Benfica, meant that Ronald Koeman was sacked and quickly replaced by club legend Xavi.
His appointment was a marriage of convenience. Xavi was, in fact, a supporter of Laporta’s presidential rival Víctor Font, but Laporta quickly realized how popular Xavi would be with the fans, plus none of his other targets were interested.
And it has gone better than could have been expected for a rookie coach.
Since his arrival, Barcelona have lost just one league game and jumped from ninth to third in the table, albeit 15 points behind leaders Real Madrid with one game remaining.
This was always going to be a transitional season, with the basic requirement that Xavi finish in a Champions League qualifying position, something that seems more and more likely with each passing week.
“If you know him, then you know he has a philosophy that fits perfectly with this club,” says Jordi Cruyff, the former Barcelona and Manchester United winger who was hired as a sports adviser last year.
He knows the club environment and lived through the ups and downs as a player, so there were many aspects that already had him well prepared.
Xavi has been helped and abetted by a combination of circumstances that have helped him along the way, although it is fair to say that he has certainly made his own luck.
One of the first situations he had to resolve was the chaotic Dembélé debacle, with many at the club threatening the player to sign a new contract on reduced terms or leave immediately.
Xavi handled the situation perfectly, even challenging the position of the club that wanted Dembélé out or in the stands.
The jeers from the crowd are turning mostly to cheers now that they see exactly what the Frenchman can do when he is focused and confident. There is even a small chance that he will sign a new contract, something that seemed impossible just a few weeks ago.
From bad deals to shrewd signings
After years of terrible bad deals in the transfer market, some brilliantly astute January deals bought the likes of Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (seven goals in his last seven games) and Wolves’ Adama Traore (two assists in five games). of La Liga after none in 20 for the Premier League team). Also Ferran Torres from Manchester City as the only player they have paid a transfer fee for: £46.3m.
These signings were the result of the collaboration of four key decision-makers at the club: Xavi, Cruyff, Laporta and sporting director Mateu Alemany.
“We have been working well together and Xavi needs to believe in the players we are thinking about because he is the one who will decide if they play or not, and that is why it is important that we have a good synchronization between the four of us.” Cruyff says.
“January is not the easiest transfer window. Players who are doing fantastically well in their league will not come on loan.
“But I knew those three would fit right in as they come from a league with a lot of pace, intensity and is physically demanding.
“The good thing is that all the players who came to us in January had to give up a little bit to be able to join the club.”
That’s a reference to the fact that those three signings are now earning less than their previous teams, which speaks volumes for Barcelona’s drawing power, regardless of the financial situation they’re currently in.
Similarly, great veterans who are still more than capable of performing at the highest level, Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets and Gerard Piqué, also bit the bullet. They took pay cuts and also helped to help a superbly talented set of youngsters settle into the first team as if they had been playing there all their lives.
At Gavi, Pedri, Nico Gonzalez, Ronald Araujo, Sergino Dest and, when fit, Ansu Fati, have a group of players aged 17-23 who could be leading figures for their club and countries for at least the next decade.
Barca are also hoping to sign Chelsea defender Andreas Christensen and AC Milan midfielder Franck Kessie this summer, both as free agents.
“Our improvements are a mix of many things that have come together and made the team look better, score more goals and go in an upward direction,” added Cruyff.
Even if this weekend’s Clasico goes against them, there are signs that Barcelona are on their way to establishing themselves as a major force once again.
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