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Barcelona President Joan Laporta has recently revealed how the Catalans survived the financial crunch it was going through during the summer transfer window according to Reuters.
The Catalans bought Sergio Aguero, Eric Garcia, Emerson Royal and Memphis Depay with hopes of making their arrival fortify the club.
However, it was clear that without those players, Barca’s wage bill had already hit over 100% of their income and the LaLiga’s Financial Fair Play Rule did not allow them to register their new signings Reuters reported.
Lionel Mess’s contract had expired on June 30, and he had become a free agent but the club claimed all was well.
But the language changed entirely on August 5 when Barca dropped a shocking news that Messi would be leaving due to “financial and structural obstacles”.
Barca was in ruin and had a net worth of minus 451 million euros ($532.86 million) Laporta explained. They attempted to defer contract payments for Messi, but the league would not allow it.
Messi had to go, but with his departure their wage bill was still at 95%. Further sales were made to cushion the situation, but they were still insignificant.
The next phase of managing the situation was the club going round to ask senior players to agree to salary reductions and payment deferrals.
Reuters reported that Gerard Pique was first to oblige and this permitted Emerson, Depay and Garcia to be registered. Jordi Alba and captain Sergio Busquets followed suit on deadline day, meaning Aguero could finally be signed up to LaLiga.
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