The Fall of A Giant; The Financial Impact On FC Barcelona
FC Barcelona has dominated European football for the past two decades. Many factors contribute to a team’s decline, but here are the key reasons for Barcelona’s struggles. We will start with the three most famous transfers that broke the 100,000,000 euro mark.
Of course, we are talking about Antoine Griezmann, Philippe Coutinho and Ousmane Dembele.
Griezmann’s two-year stint at Camp Nou was a disappointment, failing to live up to his €120 million price tag. The Frenchman needed help finding the right form in Barcelona. The Frenchman could have been more useful. His hefty €17 million annual salary further justified his departure. He was taken back again by Atletico Madrid, who bought him back at the end of this season for 50,000,000 euros, but it is clear how much loss Barcelona made in this business alone.
What can we say about the 135,000,000 euros paid to Ousmane Dembele, who left as a free footballer and was one of the most expensive?
Since joining Barcelona from Borussia Dortmund, the speedy winger has struggled to find his footing in Catalonia. It all started with his unhealthy lifestyle. Dembele’s habits (late nights, fast food) led to injuries and a decline. Barcelona hoped he’d bounce back, but in the end, he left for PSG on a free transfer.
Philippe Coutinho’s struggles to find a suitable position in Barcelona’s system significantly hampered his performance.
He was on a loan at Bayern Munich but needed to meet expectations. He also struggled with injuries and a lack of self-confidence, so from this point of view, Barcelona’s move to pay 135,000,000 euros for him seems crazy! Similar transfer failures plagued Barcelona, including Arda Turan (€34 million), Jeremy Mathieu (€20 million), Malcolm (€41 million), Andre Gomes (€37 million), and many more.
Josep Maria Bartomeu, arguably the worst president in Barcelona’s history, shoulders the blame for the club’s €1.5 billion debt.
This Spaniard is precisely the main culprit in Barcelona’s paying over 100,000,000 euros for transfers that did not bring them anything. Not only did he give money for compensation, but he also gave the players huge salaries and insane bonuses! For example, almost all players, including the four “senators”: Giordi Alba, Sergio Busquets, Sergio Roberto, and Gerard Pique, received a bonus of 1,200,000 euros each only if the club entered the Champions League.
Since Barcelona entered the group stage of the UEFA competition practically every season without any problems, it is clear how much money it is.
Furthermore, one player received a bonus of 6,700,000 euros just for extending his contract. And all this on a salary of pharaonic 13,500,000 euros! The same player also received a 2,000,000 euro bonus only if he played at least half of the games in the season! Consequently, the club’s symbol – Lionel Messi- was removed.
Although Barcelona and Messi were convinced that he would sign a new contract, Primera’s rules state that the club cannot spend more than 80 percent of the income on player salaries, making it impossible to keep the Argentine. Admittedly, the club could pledge practically everything it has for 50 years to pay Messi’s salary. Still, the new president, Joan Laporta, wanted to do something else.
There were three views on Messi’s value: financial gain (jerseys, marketing), priceless talent, and disapproval of high salary. The epilogue is that after 20 years, Messi changed the environment, and signed for Paris Saint-Germain.
Barcelona is currently only third in the table, behind Real Madrid and Girona. They will not win a trophy this season, which is a difficult blow for this team. According to the Spanish news, Barcelona is considering the potential sale of Ronald Araujo, Jules Kounde, and Andreas Christensen due to their poor financial situation and another disappointing season.
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