Barcelona's debt THE SAME as when Messi left the club

Stuart Telford

• 23 Jun 2023 19:42 BST
• 3 min read

Barcelona remain €1.35 billion in debt two years on from losing Lionel Messi on a free transfer to PSG, despite Joan Laporta's now infamous 'financial levers'.

Barca's financial plight cost them their greatest ever player two summers ago, with the club unable to offer Messi a new contract before he joined Paris Saint-Germain.

Messi, who will now turn out for David Beckham's Inter Miami, was reunited with Neymar in Paris, and it was the Brazilian's world record €222m transfer to PSG in 2017 that set the wheels in motion for the Blaugrana's financial oblivion.

READ: Barca transfer spree 'has only just begun'

Barca panicked, spending huge money on Ousmane Dembele, Philippe Coutinho, Antoine Griezmann and others in an attempt to plug the Neymar-shaped gap in their team, and they continued to spend beyond their means in the subsequent years.

Debt restructured

Joan Laporta set about activating what he called 'financial levers' - essentially the sale of the right to a percentage of future revenues on facets of the club from TV rights to merchandise - and they were able to spend nearly €150m on Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and Jules Kounde last summer.

But they remain in serious financial trouble.

READ: Barcelona's banter era: 2017 until… today?

"Eduard Romeu, the economic vice president of FC Barcelona, confirmed that Barcelona has not been able to reduce the structural debt it maintains (€1.35 billion without counting the €1.5bn cost of the 'Espai Barca' project to redevelop the Spotify Camp Nou)," report Cadena COPE.

However, Romeu insists that debts have been restructured and that the club can keep spending in this summer's transfer window, having already agreed to the signing of Germany midfielder Ilkay Gundogan under freedom of contract from Manchester City.

"We have restructured the debt for up to 10 years with maximum prudence," he said. "We want the club to have recurring positive results without the use of levers, and aim to be out of debt in the 2023/24 season."