
A long pass down the middle from Gerard Piqué, beating Nacho Fernandez, and a sleek layoff by Ferran Torres to a highflying Aubameyang was all that was needed to sink Real Madrid at the Bernabeu.
0-4 the scoreboard read. So ecstatic was the Barcelona team under Xavi that the club vice-captain Gerard Piqué – or “El Presidente” as he is fondly called – took to Twitter to inform the world, “WE ARE BACK.”
It appeared the ghost of Lionel Messi’s departure in August 2021 and the financial crisis hovering over the Catalan-based club, which first started brewing in March 2021 was about to be history. It was a confident and promising end to the 2021/2022 season for Barcelona that even rivals were beginning to believe that the “Xavi project” was going to work out as anticipated by the Catalans.
Initiated by President Joan Laporta alongside his Director of Professional Football, Mateu Alemany, the “Xavi project” saw the club’s executives going all out to invest in Head Coach Xavi Hernandez’s strategy, ensuring he was able to secure every player he requested. Despite their financial situation, the “Xavi project” resulted in a season of off-the-roof accounting. This was a transfer window that saw a cash-strapped Barcelona, though in a debt in the region of €1.3 Billion, miraculously beat rivals such as Chelsea and Arsenal to the signing of some of Europe’s hottest footballing properties in jaw-dropping fashion.
Robert Lewandowski, Jules Kounde, Raphinha, Hector Bellerin, Marcos Alonso, Andreas Christensen, and Franck Kessie all arrived at a Barcelona side that had their best player in the history of the club leave the previous summer window, due to the same financial issues – which were blamed on the administrations of both Sandro Rosell and Jose Maria Bartomeu.

Barcelona’s activity in the summer ‘22 transfer window, ahead of the 2022/2023 season, was nothing short of stunning. So stunning in fact, it seemed too good to be true, with questions like “how are they able to complete these signings?” spreading like a pandemic across the football world. Bayern Munich coach, Julien Nagelsmann, who bears a reserved personality, couldn’t help but chime in on the situation, stating in July 2022 that “Barca are the only club in the world that can have no money, but then buy all the players in the world”. A brief history of the club’s commercial success should put such doubts to bed: between 2019 and 2021, Barcelona’s commercial department generated over £700 million; in the 2018-2019 season the club’s revenue was in excess of €1 billion; and before that they has made a record sale of a footballer Neymar for €222 million in 2017. However, the sad reality is that the Catalan giants remain in a deep pit financially, and it seems to only be getting deeper.
THE CRISIS UNRAVELLED — The Very Beginning

Let’s start with the equal parts ridiculous and beautiful appointment of former captain Pep Guardiola as head coach of Barcelona in 2008. What followed Pep’s signing was a 4-year trophy-laden reign: two champions league titles, three La Liga titles, and the rebirth of the Johan Cruyff philosophy – the flamboyant tiki taka style of play.
Then youngsters, Lionel Messi, Pedro Rodgriguez, and a mix of players in the prime of their careers, formed arguably the best side the world of football ever saw. The team boasted endless triumphs, generated vast sums of cash inflow into the club, and safely netted FC Barcelona as one of the biggest sporting brands in the world. Even rivals Real Madrid, despite the signing of Cristiano Ronaldo, appeared inferior to Barcelona at that time.
With the cash-flow came the domino effect of tying these youngsters and the fulcrum of the team to relatively crazy and lengthy contracts, in a bid to capitalise on the players’ lucrativity. It was only a matter of time before Barcelona boasted of the biggest wage bill in the world of football. At that time, it appeared to be a situation with little to no effect on their pockets, as the club were making enough money from the players to cover for the wages and expenses they were incurring.
It all seemed to be working out. The wage bills kept on increasing as time passed, but cash was still rushing in. Pep Guardiola left, Tito Villanova had his time, Tata Martino was at the helm for a season, and it was the turn of former captain Luis Enrique.
But prior to the arrival of Luis Enrique, one thing had gradually become a trend in the Barcelona side: the steady decline in trophies won. It didn’t matter much as the club advanced to the latter stages of major competitions, so they were able to generate enough to keep up with the costly expenditure. Still Barcelon’s was indeed a relatively crazy style of operation – nothing short of the Spanish word “La Vida Loca.”

In June 2013 Neymar Jr arrived at the club – in what remains one of the most controversial transfers in the history of the beautiful game – alongside Luis Suarez from Liverpool. Both forwards teaming up with Lionel Messi created one of the best-attacking tridents football ever saw. And just like a flash, the glory days were back in full swing at the Nou Camp.
It didn’t take long, though, before the phrase “Oh darkness my old friend,” became the reality of FC Barcelona, as they failed to keep up with the standards required by their financial books to keep spending like they always did.
Consecutive eliminations from the Champions League – and in embarrassing fashion, to say the least – became the reality of Barcelona. The youngsters from the days of Pep Guardiola, still tied to huge long-term contracts, gradually passed their prime and performance levels began to drop. Still the club managed to retain sustainable appearances, and even with the departure of Neymar Jr in 2017, Barcelona were still able to finance huge transfers.
THE GREAT FALL

You know that saying about the rain – “when it rains it pours.” That became the reality in Barcelona. From the issue with the then president Jose Maria Bartomeu, and the secret payouts to paying PR company I3 Ventures leading the Barcagate investigations, to a host of players being scapegoated and their contracts being revealed. From the 2017/18 season, Barcelona were gradually being caught under the rain and by early 2020 the showers only
worsened.
Barcelona couldn’t have predicted what would hit them next as the world fell into an unprecedented global pandemic in 2020. So devastating was the effect of the pandemic on Barcelona that the club resorted to players deferring wages and taking pay cuts to help the football club stay solvent. It would only get worse for the Spanish club, as their debts rose to over €1.3 billion with a huge chunk of it repayable in the short term.
How was Barcelona going to get out of this crisis, considering the fact they compete in a league where the Financial Fair Play rule – that ensures clubs aren’t spending more money that they’re making – was not suspended, despite the pandemic?
A few solutions had to transpire including selling key players and talents but newly elected President Joan Laporta, was of a different opinion. When asked how the club will become solvent again he maintained it was a growing problem and there was a need for a different approach, the need for reliance on something other than the transfer market.
LAS PALANCAS (THE LEVERS)

President Joan Laporta opted for the economic levers. Upon the exit of Lionel Messi in August 2021 and a few other highly-paid players between 2019-2022, the club went all out to play “the gamblers game,” “rolling the dice and selling assets – some sold forever.
The first economic lever was activated in June of 2022, so as to close their financial year positively: 10% of their TV rights were sold. Entering into the new season (2022-23), Barcelona activated the second economic lever, which involved the sale of another 15% of their TV rights. Despite these measures, not enough funds were generated and the need to compete with their rivals necessitated even more spending cuts.
A long list of players were drafted and Laporta himself knew that to pull off these new signings an economic miracle had to happen. What happened was the sale of two separate states of the Barca studios for over €700 million. This got the club over the line; they could safely sign and register new players.
But this is an “all or nothing approach” that entirely juxtaposes the sustainable excess that characterised Guardiola’s Barcelona, and the legacies that trailed behind. As the club publicly struggles to make ends meet, the football community is wondering how they will survive subsequent years; the team has already fallen short of its UEFA Champions League target with elimination from the group stages this season, a feat which translates to a huge shortage in revenue in a season that is still far from finishing.
PROJECT SUPER LEAGUE

The UEFA Super League, a revolutionary idea of a competition formed by top clubs in Europe, was already in discussion even before the election of Laporta. Despite the fierce backlash from fans and pundits towards it, many aren’t surprised that the club would persistently push for this new football league, given their financial situation, as it seems to be the only escape route for Barcelona. Top clubs in Europe will earn multiple times their current annual revenue just by joining the competition. But there goes the unanswered question, a question worth a billion Euros, can Xavi’s Barcelona be dubbed a “top club?”
With history and prestige on their side, the 5-time UEFA Champions League Winners will be categorized by many as a powerhouse in football. But what happens when they face teams who are currently better than them? What happens when they finish below par in the Super League table? Will they still get a huge chunk of the revenue cake offered by the Super League?
This remains to be seen. But an undisputed assessment is that Barcelona are in a self-dug pit, which sadly, doesn’t seem to have an exit in sight.


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