Barcelona are struggling to get out of the financial difficulties that have been plaguing the club for the last few years. They had a debt of over €1bn at one point and president Joan Laporta has been working hard to narrow down that figure in the last year.
The Covid-19 pandemic has hit the Spanish club very hard, as they recorded a shocking €481m in net losses for the 2020/21 season. They have been working hard on fixing that ever since and have recently been forced to sell off some assets to fix their financial situation.
Very recently, the Barca board and club members decided to sell 49% of their retail operation BLM (Barcelona Licensing and Merchandise) for €200m-€300m. They even sold 10% of their La Liga TV rights for a minimum of €200m for the next 25 years.
Joan Laporta & co are hoping that this will allow them to finish the 2021/22 financial year without similar losses as the last one and help them make major summer signings. Because of their major debt, inflated wage bill and incurring losses, the club has not been able to make any signings.
Barca have, although, reportedly struck agreements with Andreas Christensen and Franck Kessie to join as free agents next season. They will have to fix their wage bill and sell players to free up spaces to be able to announce and insert them into their squad.
But when it comes to signing players from other clubs, Barca are struggling to move ahead. They can’t issue any transfer budget before ensuring they don’t massive losses or plunge even further into financial ruin.
Barcelona’s fans have grown tired of the situation and are desperate to see their side make some quality signings that can help them challenge for the La Liga title next season.
Things got so hilariously desperate that some fans decided to make their feelings felt during a Virtual Assembly meeting held by the club on Youtube on Friday.
For some reason, Barca kept the option of fan money donation on for the entirety of the stream – allowing their supporters to donate them some money if possible.
Their fans decided to help them as much as possible, with some stretching to hilarious levels to do so.
Fans poured in little amounts of money from all over the world. One disguised as Ousmane Dembele joked that he was ‘paying back some of my hospital bills’ with a donation of €1.99.
Desperate times call for desperate measures.
— Barça Eleven (@BarcaEleven_) June 17, 2022
No love for Lenglet apparently.
— Barça Eleven (@BarcaEleven_) June 17, 2022
A fan disguised as Riqui Puig donated some money urging Laporta to tell Xavi to play him next season.
— Barça Eleven (@BarcaEleven_) June 17, 2022
Not everyone was a Puig fan though.
— Barça Eleven (@BarcaEleven_) June 17, 2022
A complaint on behalf of Messi.
— Barça Eleven (@BarcaEleven_) June 17, 2022
A plea on behalf of Lewandowski.
— Barça Eleven (@BarcaEleven_) June 17, 2022
It’s clear that fans are trying to stay as light-hearted as possible during a tense summer window for Barcelona. Things could get progressively better or worse depending on whether they’re able to sell players and fix their financial issues soon.