La Liga decided on Thursday to reduce Barcelona’s spending cap for the upcoming season to 270 million euros, which is equivalent to $290 million. This news came as a shock to Barcelona, who are the defending Spanish champions.
There are stringent spending limitations in place in the Spanish top division, which prevent clubs from continuing to overspend on player wages and player transfers.
The previous maximum for Barcelona was 649 million euros, which is equivalent to $697 million. This amount was inflated by the sale of the club’s future income from broadcast rights, which was one of a series of financial “levers” the club used.
According to reports originating in Spain, the present amount of salary expenditures incurred by the Catalans is over 400 million euros ($429 million).
The penalty for exceeding the limit is that Barcelona will be subject to the division’s spending cap as a punishment. This means that Barcelona will only be permitted to use approximately fifty percent of their income to develop their team until they make enough cuts to fall under the new limit.
Due to the existing circumstances, it is quite doubtful that Barcelona would engage in big transfer business in the month of January. The club will need to make additional reductions in order to be in a position to strengthen their roster in the summer.
This is in spite of the fact that several players, including Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba, Ousmane Dembele, and others, have left the team.
In August, goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen extended his contract with the club until 2028 by signing a new deal with the club. This opened the door for Barcelona to register new signings, such as loanees Joao Cancelo and Joao Felix.
On Thursday, club president Joan Laporta was quoted as saying, “We owe him a debt of gratitude for renegotiating his contract because it has opened the door for other players to register.”
Javier Tebas, the president of La Liga, stated that he did not have a timetable for when Barcelona’s financial condition will return to normal.
Tebas stated during a news conference on Thursday that the outcome “depends on Barcelona and their business strategy.”
“Perhaps they will be able to make a significant advance after selling a fantastic player. We have no way of knowing if they will or not.
“The entire strategy for the medium and long-term is set by the club; we do not set it for them,” the speaker said.
Real Madrid, on the other hand, has a spending cap of 727 million euros, which is equivalent to $780 million.
Atletico Madrid has a transfer maximum of 296 million euros, which is equivalent to $318 million. Los Blancos have the highest limit.
The expenditure restriction for La Liga teams covers a variety of expenses, including player and staff salaries, transfer amortisation costs, agent fees, and bonus payments, among other things.
The restrictions of each team are determined by first deducting their debts and other expenses that are not related to their sport from their total earnings.