The saying goes that “he who saves, always has,” and that is the philosophy of Barça, which did its homework in the past and now Laporta is rubbing his hands with the extra millions he will be able to bring in this summer, which will come in handy to keep the current squad together and be able to make some signings that are marked in red on the list, such as Luis Díaz.
Fair play continues to be a headache
LaLiga warned a few weeks ago that Laporta’s Barça has no salary cap to register more players. Last summer, it already had to seek a waiver from the CSD to register Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor, and the financial situation has not changed radically, so another austere summer is expected at Can Barça.
Barça fans have been fortunate that, at their worst financial moment, a generation of young players has emerged from the youth academy, including Lamine Yamal, Gavi, Fermín, and Pau Cubarsí, who have enabled the club to win titles without major investments. Laporta downplays the issue. “Fair play is determined by LaLiga at the end of the season depending on budgets. We will bring in €950 million this year.
Next season, the budget will exceed €1 billion. We are confident that we will be at 1:1. This makes it much easier for Deco to work,“ said the Barça president. He also added that ”last season we ended with positive results and that helped us a lot. Above all, it is easier for Deco to work with 1:1 than with 1:4.”
Departures to lighten the squad
Despite the president’s words, departures are expected at FC Barcelona this summer. There are players who have been put up for transfer, such as Ansu Fati, who is finalizing his move to Monaco, and Pau Víctor, who also has several suitors. A loan move could also be sought for Pablo Torre, while the option of Andreas Christensen leaving is also being considered.
The aim is to avoid painful departures of secondary but important players with many suitors in the market. We are talking about names such as Ferran Torres and Fermín López, who are attracting a lot of interest in a powerful league such as the Premier League, which could put juicy offers on the table that would tempt Joan Laporta to agree to the sale of one of them.
Extra income
With the players on loan and the percentages of future sales retained from former members of the squad, Barça could earn around $50 million this summer and thus avoid having to make those painful sales. The first sale to generate revenue would be that of Alex Valle, who would remain at Como for an initial payment of $6 million.
In addition, Todibo arrived at West Ham on loan with a mandatory purchase option of $40 million, of which Barça would keep 20%, or $8 million. On the other hand, there is the case of Mingueza, who could leave Celta after a great season. He is valued at $20 million, and Barça would have 50% of that amount, or $10 million.
A similar case is that of Trincao, who has also attracted a lot of interest after his season at Sporting and is likely to leave for a fee of around €40 million. As with Mingueza, Barça has 50% of those rights.
With regard to Mika Mármol, there is talk of being able to earn between $3 million and $5 million. A similar amount, $4.5 million, will have to be paid by Celta to Leipzig to keep Ilaix Moriba, which would mean $1 million for Barça.
These are the surest options for extra income that Laporta is rubbing his hands over.