Broke Barcelona plan to SELL OFF club’s retail arm and TV rights money to raise funds for summer transfers
BROKE Barcelona chiefs plan to sell off part of the club’s retail arm AND TV rights money to raise funds for a summer transfer splurge. Members yesterday voted in favour of offloading 49.9 per cent of Barcelona Licensing and Merchandising. And the Spanish club, said to be £1BILLION in debt, is also giving up 25 […]
BROKE Barcelona chiefs plan to sell off part of the club’s retail arm AND TV rights money to raise funds for a summer transfer splurge.
Members yesterday voted in favour of offloading 49.9 per cent of Barcelona Licensing and Merchandising.
And the Spanish club, said to be £1BILLION in debt, is also giving up 25 per cent of its TV rights for the next 25 years.
A whopping 494 members voted in favour of the drastic measures, with just 62 against and 13 abstaining.
Barcelona are now set for a cash injection between £512million and £598m.
It means the club’s strict wage cap – which saw Lionel Messi booted out last summer – can go from minus £123m to plus £384m.
And that will allow Barca to land several of their top targets, including Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski.
President Joan Laporta declared: “Barcelona is a Formula One car with no fuel and a seized-up engine.
“We need to do this because we have been making losses for years, we have inherited a very difficult situation.
“I do not want to keep looking back. It’s important to make a profit because if we continue to make losses our competitors see us as weak.
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“And not only them but people with power in regulatory bodies systematically and obsessively put obstacles in our way.”
The boost in immediate cash will also allow Barcelona to finally confirm a free transfer for Chelsea centre-back Andreas Christensen.
They hope to raid the Blues for Spanish duo Cesar Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso too.
And it could also spell bad news for the likes of Manchester United, who were ready to take advantage by poaching Frenkie de Jong.
But former agent Jose Maria Minguella, who worked on numerous big Barcelona deals, has warned the club they must be more prudent with future signings.
He said: “I warned about the horrendous sporting management we have suffered when the club threw money at Philippe Coutinho, Ousmane Dembele and Antoine Griezmann.
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“I want to warn now that the signings are key. Not everyone can sign players.
“From signing well or badly you either succeed or go bankrupt. You don’t need to be clever to sign Lewandowski now but you do to sign him when he is only 22.”