Barcelona are still desperately seeking the income they thought they had two summers ago. After the club sold 49.5% of Barca Vision for €200m, it allowed them to rebuild their squad with the likes of Raphinha, Robert Lewandowski and Jules Kounde. Yet it continues to weigh the club down, as the non-payment of that money penalises their salary limit.
The Blaugrana are set to take German investment fund Libero to court over the €40m they were due, having sold on a cut of the original sale to Orpheus Media and Socios. That money was supposed to be arriving in the summer transfer window, but six over four months later, the Blaugrana are still waiting.
This week should have been a festive one for President Joan Laporta, but the €40m hole in their accounts has forced him into action. Spotted in Dubai, eating with a former United Arab Emirates Health and Culture Minister, MD say that he is there seeking finance or an alternative to fill the Libero-shaped hole in the Middle East. Mas Que Pelotas also confirms this news.
Laporta has always been adamant that under his reign, Barcelona will continue to be owned by their fans, but increasingly, the club has sought outside investment in order to plug the financial gaps, as they struggled to continue to compete with the nouveau riche in Europe. The economic levers are the most obvious example, but putting sponsors on their shirt is another example of the same principle. Previously, Barcelona had Unicef on their shirts, and before that, it was a blank space.