The salary mass of the Barcelona squad at the beginning of the summer amounted to about 560 million. The goal of the club's economic area was to lower it to 400. That goal, according to Barcelona sources, is now a pipe dream and will have to wait at least until the 2024-2025 campaign once various high contracts with some players have ended, amounts that the club considers out of the market but that he has no choice but to assume as they are signed. LaLiga will not offer details about the teams' wage bill until September 12, but Barcelona have not managed to lower it as they wanted.
Because at the same time the imperative need of the entity and the sports area was for a revolution that would increase the competitiveness of the team, that would put Barça back at the center of the international scene and that could activate a larger wheel of income at the same time that the illusion was triggered. A revolution that did not finish fitting in until the last day of the market and that went through the making of eight signings, counting the subsidiary Pablo Torre, the new contract of Dembélé and Sergi Roberto and the departure of 18 players. 158 million fixed spent and about 37 entered after the agreement for 12 with Chelsea for Aubameyang. A pact that served to tie the signing of Marcos Alonso to the left wing. To the right, Bellerin. "I am very excited to return home eleven years after leaving," said the former Betis soccer player yesterday. Both Bellerín and Alonso already trained yesterday with their new teammates. It was a couple of hours before the club registered Alonso and made his signing official for one season. The left back will have a termination clause of 50 million. Both footballers will be presented next week.
The board was not available to make huge investments if it did not resort to disposing of present and future assets and for this reason it asked the compromising partners for permission to activate the fashionable concept of these months: the levers. He had to resort to up to four to reinforce the team and register the signings. He got rid of 25% of his television rights for the next 25 years, which generated an accounting capital gain of 667 million for Barça. Then came the third, the sale of 24.5% of Barça Studios for 100 million, and later the fourth, the sale of another 24.5% of its audiovisual division. This last operation was capital to register Lewandowski, Christensen, Kessie and Raphinha and was carried out after the agreement between the club and the company Orpheus Media, managed by businessman Jaume Roures.
Not even all these movements allowed the registration of Koundé and the president Joan Laporta and the treasurer Ferran Olivé had to present a guarantee of 11 million so that the Frenchman could be put under Xavi's orders.
Because if the club has been able to satisfy all the wishes of its coach, with the exception of the arrival of Azpilicueta and Bernardo Silva, the board has not been able to release Frenkie de Jong, whom they wanted to sell to save a salary of 23 million and obtain a good amount of transfer, nor adjust the salaries of the captains. They negotiated with Piqué and Busquets but no agreement was reached. Of course, the area piloted by Mateu Alemany freed the coach from all those players he did not have.
The pieces on the board were fitting. Now they have to do it on the pitch.
