Club bizarrely engaged in a huge spending spree even as they continue to mortgage their future with a succcession of dealsPumas' Brazilian defender and former Barca star Dani Alves with Barcelona president Joan Laporta and midfielder Sergio Busquets. No club has spent more than Barcelona this summer, despite their debt mountain. Photograph: Pau Barrena/AFP/Getty ImagesJoan Laporta has always followed Johan Cruyff.
It was a first, exciting glimpse of a new era and new signings: Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha, Jules Koundé, Frank Kessie and Andreas Christensen. The problem is that they might not get a second six days on when the season starts against Rayo Vallecano on Saturday night. The short answer is: they can’t, not yet. Barcelona face a race to make sufficient cuts by reducing salaries or moving players out, or bring in enough money to comply with La Liga’s financial fair play criteria – an automated system that is preventive rather than punitive.
Robert Lewandowski in action during the Gamper Trophy friendly against Club Universidad Nacional Pumas at the Camp Nou. The arrival of the outstanding striker from Bayern was a signal of Barcelona's intent. Photograph: Paul Barrena/AFP via Getty Images Julian Nagelsmann, Bayern Munich’s head coach, insisted Barcelona were the “only club in the world that have no money but then buy all the players they want. It’s a bit strange, a bit crazy. I don’t know how they do it”.
In essence, pulling palancas means selling assets, raising cash against future earnings to balance your books. Usually for a football club that would mean players, but it’s not so easy to do when the few sellable players you have are not that keen to go, and so Barcelona have looked elsewhere. The third palanca came at the start of August with the sale of just under 24.5 per cent of Barca Studios, the club’s content production company to crypto company Socios for €100 million. And the planned fourth would see another 24.5 per cent of Barca Studios go to investment fund GDA Luma for €100 million.
There was even a letter from the club informing him that the extension he had signed under the previous regime might be part of a raft of four renewals they claim were fraudulent – seen by De Jong’s camp as an attempt to strong-arm him out. He, though, continues to insist upon his desire to continue, even as things turn toxic.
They raised €700mn in the last few months…