FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta has come out in public to talk about the losses the Catalan club is facing at the moment. Just 10 days after the departure of the superstar, Lionel Messi, Laporta delivered a detailed press conference to speak on the financial position of the club.
Laporta didn’t mince his words at all. He revealed that at the moment FC Barcelona faced a gross debt of €1350 million. This includes a negative net worth of 451 million euros and a net debt of 551 million euros. All these calculations have been carried out by audit company Ernst and Young.
The situation is only going to get worse for FC Barcelona, with a huge revenue source like Lionel Messi transferred, FC Barcelona is sure to face the consequences. Messi alone brought 11% of the total yearly wealth for Barcelona.
“673 million are bank debt; 389 debt with players, including deferred salaries and payment commitments for various concepts such as loyalty and career bonuses; 96 million euros for litigation in which the club thinks that our claims will not be estimated, 40 million for the season tickets that were not used last year (due to the Covid-19 pandemic) and 79 million euros for the advance of 50% of the television rights of La Liga, among other concepts,” said Laporta.
“The situation has forced us to work to make a strategic plan and show the auditors and our creditors that we are a running company,” he added.
Barcelona commenced its La Liga campaign on Saturday with a 4-2 victory over Real Sociedad.