Barcelona on the verge of accepting salary limit disaster due licencing issues | OneFootball

Barcelona are facing another summer of salary limit struggles, with their latest ‘economic lever’ unlikely to be available to them before the end of the summer transfer window. The reason being the delays in work on Camp Nou, which are already eight months behind schedule.

In January, Barcelona ratified the lease of 475 VIP seats for the next 30 years to Fort Advisors and New Era Visionary Group. The deal brought in €100m to their accounts, and put the club back within their La Liga salary limit, allowing them to register players using 100% of the money they save or earn. However in March, auditors Crowe removed the income from their balance sheet as the product does not yet exist, and as such, from their salary limit.

Joan Gamper trophy in doubt

Last week Barcelona were granted an events licence by the Barcelona City Council, the first of two that they need to be able to play games at Spotify Camp Nou. However, Sport, MD and Marca all report that Barcelona have all but given up hope of the second licence – allowing first entry into the venue – being granted in time. The club need the licence to come in this week in order to be able to host the Joan Gamper trophy on the 10th of August against Como, as was planned.

Image via FC Barcelona

The club will make a decision on the Gamper trophy towards the end of this week. If Camp Nou is off the table, they could either host the match at the Estadi Johan Cruyff (6,000 capacity), or whether to cancel the event outright. Initially they had hoped to host it with 60,000 fans, then 30,000, but it now looks like a close to impossible ask. Barcelona do believe they will be able to host their first home match of the season on the 14th of September.

Salary limit impact for Barcelona

If indeed that is the case, then it will have a dramatic impact on Barcelona’s transfer business. The Blaugrana have already signed Joan Garcia for €25m this summer, but so far unable to register him. They still have other new contracts to register, including Wojciech Szczesny too. Strengthening their attack is also a priority this summer, but a major move seems impossible without their €100m lease being included in their salary limit.

A loophole for Barcelona?

Sport go on to say that Barcelona believe that they will be able to work around this. Once the VIP seats are completed, they are under the impression that a certificate demonstrating as such will be accepted by Crowe as proof of the existence of the product, even if it is not yet operational. It is not yet confirmed that this will be the case.

Even if Barcelona do get the €100m deal accepted, it will cost Director of Football Deco time and opportunities in the market until he can promise registration to new recruits. Beyond that the Blaugrana are still relying on a new sponsorship deal and player exits in order to carry out any more significant additions.