Reports | Barcelona under pressure to sell €70 million worth of players by end of June
Barcelona need to offload 70 million worth of players by end of June
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Barcelona are in a race against financial chaos with the club reportedly forced to sell around €70 million worth of players before the end of June. The COVID-19 pandemic has hit football hard with the financial impact visible with Barcelona and Real Madrid amongst the list of those affected.
While the Premier League, Serie A, and Bundesliga have all been affected by the COVID-19 virus, many believed that La Liga’s bigger sides would be safe from a global pandemic. But that has not been the case with both Barcelona and Real Madrid struggling from the financial implications of a lockdown. The Catalan giants have been hurt the most with them losing reportedly between €120 and €140 million because of the crisis.
Not only that, it includes a reported figure of above €40 million from matchday income and ticket sales for their museum. However, that’s after they predicted revenue for the season to hit €1 billion, for the first time in their history, but that was before the pandemic. While things have changed now, the club is still under a time crunch to help balance their books and ESPN has reported that they have to bring in around €70 million in player sales.
The report further added that there is an air of concern around the club and their board as they do not believe that the target will be met by the end of June. That is despite the club open to selling some of their best players in Arthur Melo, Ivan Rakitic, Junior Firpo, Samuel Umtiti, Arturo Vidal, and Nelson Semedo amongst others. However, an even bigger issue that the club will face is the fact that a large portion of the aforementioned players are unwilling to leave Barcelona.
ESPN has reported that despite the interest shown in Melo, Vidal, and Rakitic, all three have made their decision to stay at the club clear although Samuel Umtiti and Junior Firpo have proven to be harder to offload than Barcelona expected. That causes more problems for the club as they are also looking to simultaneously cut down their wage bill which at €507 million is the biggest in club football and despite a 70% wage reduction, ESPN has reported that Barcelona could face a serious financial problem because of that.
