Barcelona move within €10m of salary limit goal after January transfer window | OneFootball

Barcelona are close to bringing their wage bill within their salary limit for the first time in 3.5 years, according to the latest reports coming out of Catalonia. It has been something of an odyssey for the Catalan giants to do so, as they manage burgeoning debt, and the consequences of their famous asset sales, or ‘economic levers’.

In the summer of 2022, Barcelona President Joan Laporta decided to activate the economic levers, making asset sales to the tune of €656m. However, the sale of 49.5% of Barca Studios has not gone as planned, with several investors failing to make payments, and the company being devalued from €400m to nearly half of that. Since, Barcelona have not only been bearing the costs in their accounts, but also trying to bring down a large wage bill.

Barcelona €10m away from salary limit

La Liga set salary limits based on wage bills and the transfer costs of a club’s sporting costs, which is permitted to be 70% of their income for the year. Clubs over their salary limit can only spend 60% of what they save or bring in, while those within that limit can spend all of what they save or bring in, but that has not been the case for Barcelona since 2022.

Image via Sport

Sport say that Barcelona are a little over €10m away from being in their salary limit. They say that a new contract for Frenkie de Jong, a new deal for a Barcelona-themed residential complex and the exit of Dro Fernandez have brought Barcelona closer to their goal.

Board guarantees will slow progress

Part of the money from those changes has gone towards recovering a board bank guarantee that Barcelona put down to register Roony Bardghji, Wojciech Szczesny and Gerard Martin to the tune of €19m. There is still a further €7m bank guarantee that the board must try to recover, and given it is the end of their mandate at the club, this will likely be a priority.

Their plan is for Barcelona to collect the final €30m payment due from New Era Visionary Group in the €100m lease of the rights to VIP seats at Camp Nou. So far, €70m in total has been collected. It is not the first time that it has been claimed, at times by President Joan Laporta, that the ‘1:1 rule’ is close, hence Barcelona fans will likely take the news with a pinch of salt.