Barcelona transfer plans set to be boosted by €300m windfall
Suraj Radia
- 16 Jun 2022 22:05 BST
- 3 min read
Barcelona could be set for a windfall of up to €300 million after club members voted to sell a minority stake in Barca Licensing and Merchandising (BLM).
The Catalan outfit have been in financial disarray, prompting a vote to sell a portion of BLM in order to supplement their running costs.
The vote, which was won 568 to 65, would allow Barcelona to report a higher amount of revenue, thus loosening the restrictions on their salary cap imposed by La Liga.
President Joan Laporta said any sale would earn the club between €200m and €300m while they also voted to sell up to 25% of the income from the La Liga TV rights for 25 years, in a move which could net Barcelona a minimum of €200m for 10%.
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What does the sale of BLM mean for Barcelona's transfers?
Barcelona's financial duress over the past year has been well-documented and the club were gearing up for another window of cost-cutting.
Laporta had set a goal of reducing the club's wage bill by €160m by the end of the summer and the reducing the club's debt, which stands at over €1bn.
The injection of cash means that the club should end the financial year, which closes on June 30th, in profit following three years of losses.
BLM is the company that negotiates the commercialisation behind Barcelona's brand and the club reserve the right to repurchase the 49.9% stake.
Los socios y socias compromisarios autorizan la activación de los mecanismos económicos de BLM pic.twitter.com/Lp4Tjo5UhD
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona_es) June 16, 2022
The restructure of Barcelona's finances means they should be able to push ahead with their ambitious transfer plans, focusing around Bayern Munich forward Robert Lewandowski.
Lewandowski is the club's priority target and Barcelona have been unable to pay Bayern's €50m asking price up until now but a deal could progress rapidly once the BLM sale is finalised.
Barcelona also have deals in place to sign Franck Kessie and Andreas Christensen on free transfers from AC Milan and Chelsea respectively but they were unable to register the duo until the wage bill was lowered.
Manager Xavi still has plans to sell up to ten fringe first team players to continue to lower the wage bill, however star midfielder Frenkie De Jong now does not have to be one of them.
De Jong has been strongly linked with a €70m move to Manchester United and the club were reluctantly considering a sale due to their finances but the new deal could change the situation.
