Following the shock departure of the worlds greatest footballer last week, Barcelona have revealed that the Spanish football club is in debt for "a worrying" €1.35 billion..
The club's new president Joan Laporta has confirmed that the club will make losses for the financial year of the 20/21 season of €481 million.
Laporta who recently joined the club as president blamed his predecessor Josep Bartomeu for a "terrible inheritance" which he says saw the club pay salaries in teh region of €390million. At a live press conference Laporta: "Our salaries represent 103 per cent of the club's total income. That's 20-25 per cent more than our competitors. The first thing we had to do when we arrived was to ask for a loan of €80m because otherwise, we could not pay the salaries. The previous regime was full of lies."
Laporta described the situation as “very worrying” and claims he has now set salary targets at 65%-70% of income, which should allow the club to make over €200m in savings, and revealed that La Liga had also set Barcelona an initial salary cap of just €88m for this season which is why superstar Lionel Messi left the club to join Paris Saint Germain last week and it was only thanks to Gerard Pique agreeing a last-minute pay cut that allowed Barca to field new signings Memphis Depay and Eric Garcia as
Going forward the club will now have to adapt to a strict ratio of one euro spent for every four they are able to save.
At present Barcelona has a negative net worth of €451m which for a club of such stature is shameful, owing €670 million to the banks.
Image Credit: FC Barcelona
