Over the years, Barcelona have built a reputation of being a huge club which have had large spells of dominating Spain and Europe.
They have also recruited and produced some of the best players the game has ever seen.
However, in recent years, financial mismanagement and wrong recruitment have seen the club thrown deep into financial crisis to threaten the legacy they have built for themselves.
Recently, they have made a lot of questionable decisions and transfers, further complicating issues.
One of such decisions was kicking out Luis Suarez and letting him go almost for free to title rivals Atletico Madrid.
Suarez was allegedly let go because of his age and losing his mojo, but he went on to become an integral part of Atletico’s title success last season.
Another questionable decision is the payment of mammoth transfer fees on players who haven’t quite lived up to expectations at the Camp Nou.
Players like Ousmane Dembele, Antoine Greizmann and Philippe Coutinho were brought in on huge transfer fees and were given astronomic wages but have not delivered. Instead, the decision has plundered the club further into debt.
It is no wonder the club opted to join the Super League, where they were guaranteed huge sums of money for participating, all in a bid to ease their financial struggles.
Who could have thought clubs like Leeds United would be able to sign players from Barcelona but Barca themselves can only sign players on free transfers? Indeed how the mighty have fallen.
With the recent change in management, Barcelona know they have a couple of decisions to make especially as it affects their financial status.
They are currently unable to register new signings Memphis Depay, Sergio Aguero, Eric Garcia and Emerson Royal until they cut down on their wage bill according to La Liga laws.
Cutting down on their wage bill will not be an easy decision to make as the club has its heart set on retaining the services of Lionel Messi who is the number one source of income for the club but whose contract has expired at the club.
Messi is now a free agent and can join any club of his choice for free. PSG and Manchester City are potential destinations for the Argentine but Barcelona are confident they can convince him to stay.
So how do you fit in renewing Messi’s contract and also being able to register the new signings? Barcelona would have to offload some players.
The player who could make way is Antoine Greizmann who reportedly earns over €800k in weekly wages. He reportedly earns second only to Lionel Messi at the club.
The club will be looking to get him off its wage bill, so there’s a possibility we might see him leave this summer.
The situation is complicated as none of the current players are willing to take a pay cut in their wages.
Players like Miralem Pjanic and Samuel Umtiti have refused pay cuts despite featuring so little for Barca. The club is looking for ways to terminate their contract or pay them off to leave.
Philippe Coutinho is also in contention to leave this summer as the club is willing to listen to offers on a cut-price deal to get him off the books as well.
How they are going to balance the books will no doubt be a huge test to the Barca board. The whole world will be keenly watching.
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