FC Barcelona that sent off Messi are low on cash

Talented football players dream about joining the renowned Spanish football club FC Barcelona. But the team is in a critical crossroads, which may take them to shutdown.

Barcelona President Joan Laporta (59) explained the reason of transferring the “football genius” Lionel Messi (34) to the Paris Saint-Germain F.C. at an official press conference held in Camp Nou, Barcelona, Spain on Tuesday. According to him, the club’s debt including capital liabilities and overdue wages for players stands at 1.35 billion euros (about 1.87 trillion won). “Former Barcelona President Josep Bartomeu left horrible legacy,” the incumbent president who took office in March said, announcing the shocking financial status of the team.

Laporta said the team is in a situation where it cannot pay wages to main players as its net assets is 451 million euros (about 625 billion won). Total wages for the players are higher than the income of the team, which is 103% of the income. Messi agreed to cut his salary by 50%, but it was not enough for the team to retain him. “The salaries of our players are 20 to 30% higher than rival clubs. The first thing I did as the president was to take on a loan of 80 million euros (some 111 billion won) to pay wages,” he said. “The former senior management was full of lies.”

The team’s main stars including Gerard Piqué, Sergi Busquets, Sergi Roberto and Jordi Alba all agreed to a salary cut before the start of the new season. The FC Barcelona’s era where it competed with its rival Real Madrid CF by recruiting players spending astronomical sums and ruled the world is likely to end. The team is projected to improve its fundamentals and create a system to foster players by investing in youth teams.


Jae-Yeong Yoo elegant@donga.com