Barca’s wage limit slashed to the SEVENTH biggest in La Liga
Robin Bairner
- 29 Sept 2021 09:55 BST
- 3 min read
The full scale of Barcelona’s financial problems has been laid bare by the publication of salary limits for each La Liga team.
It has been revealed by Sport that the Camp Nou side saw their wage budget slashed from €347 million per year to just €97m for this campaign, which helps to explain why they were unable to secure a contract renewal for Lionel Messi.
Put into context, Real Madrid have a salary limit of €739m for this campaign - €642m more than Barca. Indeed, the Blaugrana will only have the seventh biggest wage limit in La Liga due to their weak finances.
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The Camp Nou side have already discovered by way of a 3-0 home defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League how difficult it will be to compete in the short-term.
In the medium- and long-term, though, it promises to be equally difficult given that they can no longer compete on an equal financial footing to Madrid.
The scale of Barcelona’s problem
Overall, it was a traumatic summer for Barcelona, but the loss of Messi was a blow that was not anticipated by president Joan Laporta.
In early August, it became evident that no deal could be agreed over a new contract for the Argentine and he left to sign for Paris Saint-Germain, for whom he scored his first goal on Tuesday against Manchester City.
Meanwhile, there were still issues to be resolved at Camp Nou, where new signings Memphis Depay, Eric Garcia and Sergio Aguero all struggled to be registered to the league.
In the end, it took Gerard Pique to agree a wage deferment for Barcelona to be able to bring these additions – all signed on free transfers – into the fold.
Meanwhile, Barca are still working feverishly in a bid to reduce their wage bill. However, the latest reports are not encouraging for the club. Sergi Roberto’s contract talks with the club have reportedly stalled, although with a deal that expires in June 2022, he can potentially be offloaded at the end of the season.
All this comes amid a backdrop of turmoil at the club, with head coach Ronald Koeman reportedly close to being sacked.
