Barcelona President Joan Laporta Reveals Club’s Debts, Criticizes Josep Bartomeu for His Letter ‘Full of Lies’
Bartomeu received a lot of criticism for his mismanagement of the club finances and it has been revealed that he left the club with a debt of more than €1 billion (£849m/$1.18bn) at the start of the year. He stepped down as club president following the completion of the 2019-20 season.
Barcelona president Joan Laporta has publicly opened up about the club's poor financial condition and has also criticized Josep Maria Bartomeu's letter, calling it to be 'full of lies'. Bartomeu received a lot of criticism for his mismanagement of the club finances and it has been revealed that he left the club with a debt of more than €1 billion (£849m/$1.18bn) at the start of the year. He stepped down as club president following the completion of the 2019-20 season and Laporta opened up on his efforts in making up for the damage caused to the club's finances. The poor financial situation at Barcelona forced Lionel Messi, the club's most decorated player, to leave after 17 seasons.
While responding to a letter shared by Bartomeu last week, Laporta, at a press conference, said, "When we took over the club we asked for a bridge loan of €80m (£68m/$94m) granted by Goldman Sachs because we would not have been able to pay the salaries of players and employees. The previous board had received an advance of €79m (£67m/$93m) relating to 50 percent of La Liga's television rights and the banks charged it at 9% interest."
Commenting on the reduction of wages that were made by the previous board, he said, "The reduction of wages by the previous board was not real. We have found those millions in different types of bonuses and variables included in the new contracts. We have found disproportionate payments to intermediaries, not agents, a transfer that cost €40m (£34m/$47m) and for a purchase premium we paid €8m and a sale premium of €2m. A person was paid €8m to find players in South America. The entity's controls were bypassed. Invoices were divided up, such as those of 'I3 Ventures' with 'Barcagate', invoices of 'Espai Barca' and of the debt contracted were also divided so as not to go through the Assembly."Ronald Koeman Says He’d Still Prefer Lionel Messi To Be in His Team After Barcelona’s 4–2 Win Over Real Sociedad in La Liga 2021–22
Laporta also talked about the club's salaries, which is a whopping 20-25% more than the others. Many senior Barcelona players have taken pay cuts to register new signings Memphis Depay, Eric Garcia and others. He added, "Bartomeu's letter is full of lies. It obeys an effort to justify management that is unjustifiable. It is an exercise in despair. We have a salary bill that represents 103% of the club's total income. It represents 20-25% more than our competitors. No one is going to escape from those responsibilities. The economic situation is worrying and the financial situation is dramatic. Barcelona has a net worth of minus €451m (£383m/$531m) and a debt of €1.35bn (£1.15bn/$1.59bn)."
He also talked about Barcelona paying Neymar money when they didn't even owe it to him following a dispute regarding a signing bonus following the Brazilian's move to PSG in a world-record transfer.
"He talks about Neymar," Laporta said, adding," He says that we have forgone €16.7m. Another lie, it is not true. And you could remind Bartomeu of the damage that the Neymar case did to the image of Barca. Because it was an infinity of lies. When he sold Neymar for 222 million, they had already spent disproportionately. This triggered wages and amortization."
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 16, 2021 08:20 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).