The FC Barcelona board is waiting to register Vitor Roque in LaLiga so that the Brazilian can travel to Las Palmas next Thursday for the first game of 2024. The club, without salary margin, has not received the 40 million that The investment fund Libero Football Finance AG had to pay, corresponding to the purchase of 10% of Barça Vision. The Barça board had extended the deadline for Libero to pay those 40 million, initially scheduled for last August, until December 31, 2023. However, the payment has not occurred and the club has launched the actions corresponding legal to claim it, at the same time that it has begun to activate the alternatives to find another buyer. President Joan Laporta has traveled to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates in recent weeks in search of new economic agreements.
Without salary margin, the club is obliged to take advantage of article 77 of the LaLiga regulations to register Vitor Roque taking advantage of Gavi's long-term injury. According to the wording of this article, the regulations allow 80% of the cost of the injured player - Gavi in this case - to be used, including an annex to Roque's contract that allows Barcelona to register him only until June 30. At Barça they assure that there will be no problem.
On July 1, however, Barcelona will have to repeat the registration process again for the full six-year contract.
If sufficient registration capacity has not been generated by July 1, you will not be registered and will be left out of the official roster. Furthermore, article 77 makes it clear that next year the club will see its Registerable Sports Squad Cost Limit reduced by the same amount it spends now.
Knowing that the entity can benefit from the regulations of article 77, Barcelona continues to look for new partners to replace Libero to execute the sale for July on behalf of Barça Vision, the company in charge of the creation, production and marketing of the entire audiovisual offer. of the club. According to economic experts, this operation presented risks from the beginning. Initially, after achieving the agreement of the 2021 members' assembly to raise the salary limit, the club sold 49% of Barça Vision to Orpheus Media and Socios.com, in exchange for 200 million euros. That implied a valuation of the conglomerate of about 400 million.
As the planned payments were not completed, new partners were sought. Libero and an unknown Cypriot fund repurchased 29.5% of that 49% to reactivate the operation for 120 million euros that had to be paid in tranches. At the time of signing, 20 million were paid by a partner based in Cyprus and Laporta, waiting for Libero, contributed 12 million to LaLiga. Half in the form of a guarantee and another six in the form of promissory notes. With this formula, LaLiga agreed to count this entire operation for financial fair play and Barça was able to register the contracts of João Félix, Cancelo and the pending renewals.
But the 40 million Libero are still missing. And then, both in the summer of 2024 and 2025, the club has to obtain two additional payments of 60 million to reach the 120 signed. If these payments are not paid, the club, beyond being affected at a reputational level, may see its budget altered, which this year foresees income of 859 million and profits of 11, already dispensing with the famous levers. On the sidelines, Laporta and his team will have to continue facing the costs of the personal guarantee.
