FC Barcelona: shopping king despite high debts

Today’s FC Barcelona and yesterday’s FC Barcelona still seem to exist at the same time. Last week, on the one hand, the fact that fans of the superstar Robert Lewandowski, who had just been signed with a great deal of fanfare, had to do without jerseys with his name in some club shops in the city caused astonishment – because the letter “w” was missing. The least used letter in vernacular was only available to the extent that it was previously needed for supplementary player Martin Braithwaite. The episode represented the Barça of recent years: it acted amateurishly and always gave some reason for ridicule.

On the other hand, the club is touring through the USA just like the seventh wonder of the world. Miami, Las Vegas, Dallas, now New York – FC Barcelona is making a big impression everywhere, these days with commercials on the famous neon signs in Times Square. With the new main sponsor Spotify we went to Jimi Hendrix’ legendary recording studio Electric Lady on Thursday, with the association foundation to the Rockefeller Center for the ceremony for the UN refugee aid UNHCR, which is emblazoned on the back of the shirt free of charge.

Barça seems to be “més que un club” again and on everyone’s lips – just like Joan Laporta likes it. The dazzling president was even seen dancing in pairs with a passer-by on the streets of Las Vegas, he is currently intoxicated.

The competitors are less in the mood for dancing

Above all, a new player is added at almost every station. After Lewandowski (for 45 million euros plus bonuses from FC Bayern), the Brazilian winger Raphinha (58 million, Leeds United) and the free transfers Andreas Christensen (Chelsea) and Franck Kessié (AC Milan), Jules arrived in New York on Thursday Koundé expected. The 23-year-old Frenchman is considered one of the best central defenders.

On Thursday evening, Barça officially signed Koundés for at least 50 million euros from Sevilla FC. Barcelona is replacing FC Bayern as the shopping king of the European transfer market (see graphic), although there is a certain difference between the two clubs: Munich is considered a rock-solid model club, while Barça are plagued by around 1.3 according to the latest information from February billion euros in debt.

The competitors are less in the mood for dancing. “Somehow strange, somehow crazy,” says Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann, “the only club in the world that has no money but buys any player he wants.” “Maybe a little angry” they are also at Chelsea, as coach Thomas Tuchel said. The English club already thought they had reached an agreement with Koundé, were also interested in Raphinha and would have liked to sign Ousmane Dembélé. But after a lot of back and forth, the Frenchman finally signed a new contract in Barcelona.

And with the loss of Christensen, Chelsea are now seeing their full-backs César Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso also pushing for a move to Catalonia at the start of their final year. The former England international and TV expert Gary Neville even branded it as “amoral” that Barça wanted to press established professionals like Frenkie de Jong to waive their salary parallel to his shopping spree: “He should consider legal action.”

It is actually ironic: FC Barcelona, ​​once admired worldwide as a role model, seems to have taken over the role of the bogeyman in European football from “financial dopers” such as Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain or Chelsea. However, the club does not get the money from a sheikh or an oligarch. Rather, he gets the funds through transactions on the financial market. A quarter of the income from the league TV rights for the next 25 years was sold to the investor Sixth Street for around 520 million euros. This has enabled transfers to be managed, losses from the past season to be adjusted and 100 million euros of a 595 million loan from the investment bank Goldman Sachs to be repaid. Further share sales are to follow.

Behind it is a pure capitalist idea. Investing in a better team should lead to more success and thus higher income. “The goal is to start a growth spiral,” former Barça vice-president Marc Ingla told La Vanguardia newspaper over the weekend. “In other industries, such an approach might be absurd,” said Ingla, who managed the OSC Lille 2021 as general director of France’s surprise champion. But when there are difficulties in football, saving and efficiency would not be enough: “You have to take risks, just like we did in 2003.”

2003 is the reference of President Laporta, who campaigned in the election campaign before his return as the successor to the crisis manager Josep Maria Bartomeu in 2021 with the slogan: “We will do it again.” In 2003 he took over an ailing Barça and led it back to the top with an offensive transfer policy and creative marketing – until the title sextet in 2009. Now the longing for a return to the old size also fell on the former Media Markt boss Ferran Reverter to the victim, who was hired as managing director and chief reorganizer after the election victory. In February 2022 they parted ways, Laporta took over the fortunes again.

According to his analysis, the past seasons with sporting disappointments, disillusioned fans and a less and less crowded Camp Nou mean the greatest danger for the club – because they threaten the brand. The business magazine “Forbes” still places the value of FC Barcelona at 4.76 billion dollars higher than that of any other football club. For the banks, this means that they want to finance a 1.5 billion euro renovation of the stadium and club grounds, despite the debt crisis. Barça’s appeal seems unbroken – and yet many competitors are amazed at how quickly many industry stars are choosing a club that lost 8-2 to Bayern Munich in the 2020 Champions League and failed in the group stage last fall.

The icon Xavi Hernandez is supposed to bring about the turnaround – but the drop is huge

The key figure in the turnaround is coach Xavi Hernández, who was signed as savior in November, and the key event was a stunning 4-0 win against eventual Champions League winners Real Madrid in March. Even Erling Haaland is said to have asked if a move to Barcelona was possible. But the notorious commissions from a player from the agency of the late agent Mino Raiola were then not to be lifted for the clammy Barça.

Other professionals such as Lewandowski, Dembélé or Koundé even accept cuts in salary instead of other offers. When he was told that there was a chance of a transfer to the Catalans, he didn’t want to know anything else, Raphinha said: “Your style of play is incredible, you’re blown away.”

The former world and European champion Xavi said that he only explained his plans to the players in his conversations, the rest would be done by history and myth: “Barça is a magnet for footballers.” And anyway: Due to his successful playing career, his “ego has been satisfied for three lives”. But of course Xavi also knows that his person inspires the fantasies that things could go back to the best times with his teacher Josep Guardiola. “The anticipation is gigantic,” writes the club-related “Sport” before the start of the league in two weeks. Of course, this also means the drop height.

In addition, the annoying issue of money remains. The first step is to register the new stars for gaming. In the last transfer periods, the Spanish league insisted on its statutes, according to which Barça had to save many times over for new expenses given its financial difficulties. But the recent share sales are changing balance sheets and perspectives. “Barça is on the right track,” said league boss Javier Tebas these days. In any case, it seems difficult to imagine that the umbrella organization would veto Lewandowski’s eligibility to play against a renaissance, which would upgrade the entire championship.

Nevertheless, those responsible for the club also know that they must continue to reduce costs. The wage budget, which was inflated to almost 700 million euros under Bartomeu, could only be reduced to 560 million at the end of last season. In frenetic rounds of cuts during the pandemic, most professionals did not give up, but merely deferred. Frenkie de Jong, for example, would cost around 40 million euros in the coming season with salary, back payments and transfer write-offs. Unlike the identification figures from their own offspring such as Pedri, Gavi, Ansu Fati or Ronald Araújo, he is therefore considered to be for sale in an emergency. In addition, Manchester United has made an acceptable offer of around 75 million euros.

Alone, where the magnet is so glowing, nobody wants to go, especially not to a Europa League club. And so Xavi tried to help in the most recent friendlies by using de Jong only as a substitute and in an unfamiliar defender position. Meanwhile, from the always chatty club, it was learned that the Dutchman should be given the alternative of selling or waiving his salary. It is this news that angered Gary Neville – and with him the Dutch players’ union leader Yevgeny Levchenko: “It’s almost blackmail.”

Is Lionel Messi coming back now? – Laporta wants him anyway

These are strong words, many questions remain unanswered. And the next cliffhanger is already built into the premium soap opera Barça. During the US tour, Laporta suddenly spoke about Lionel Messi, who fell victim to austerity last summer in bitter tears. He couldn’t act differently at the time, but feels indebted to the club hero, who is under contract with Paris Saint-Germain at least until next summer, Laporta said: “I hope that the Messi chapter at Barça is not closed yet is the end.”

One can already look forward to the return speculation in the coming season. But in this club’s unpredictable script, the Barça of the future may well be that of the day before yesterday.