Probably deserves it's own thread now.
I genuinely think we are watching the slow death of a giant club.
A quick refresher;
- $1.4biliion in debt
- Way over their salary cap so unable to register new signing:
Robert Lewandowski
Raphinha
Franck Kessie
Andreas Christensen
Jules Kounde
- Or register players who have signed new contracts:
Ousmane Dembele
Sergi Roberto
- Accused $400,000-a-week Frenkie de Jong of having a dodgy contract
All of that pales to what I think is the real issue... they have sold off future revenue;
- 25% of their domestic television rights for 25 years - Lever 1 & Lever 2
- 24.5% stake in Barca Studios (merchandise) - Lever 3
- Tried to fiddle an extra $150m by investing in a company they set up, ended up with a $37m tax bill
- Sold a further 24.5% of Barca Studios - Lever 4
Now, Barca are probably going to end up selling some deadwood and managing to register most of the players above - however, the issues are going to be in the next few years...
Whilst Real and the other La Liga teams (most of them) receive 100% of TV deals and 100% of merch, Barcelona are going to receive a lot less revenue in the next 20 years - not only have they kicked the can down the road, the can is now worth about 50% of what they usually receive.
Oh, and Camp Nou will be under construction 2023-24, so they'll be playing at Estadi Olνmpic Lluνs Companys, with a much reduced capacity... that said, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see the Nou Camp renovation cancelled.
So yeah, what a shit show - couldn't have happened to a nicer club. No mαs un club.