Barcelona are still in debt. Last summer, they recorded a total debt of about 1 billion Euros. President Joan Laporta has used many financial leverages but not all solutions are successful.
One of the failures was the failure to sell Barca Studios, which cost the club an additional €100 million in 2023-24. Therefore, the transfer is facing many difficulties.
Last month, Joan Laporta and Hansi Flick agreed on the view of bringing Nico Williams ( Athletic Bilbao) and Dani Olmo (RB Leipzig). The price of these two stars is not cheap. If Barca want to take them to Camp Nou, they need to pay at least 58 million Euros to Bilbao and 60 million Euros to Leipzig to break the contract.
According to Laporta's priority order, Williams is currently ranked above Olmo. Therefore, Sports Director Deco did not go to the US with the whole team to compete. He stayed at Barcelona to closely monitor the situation of these two transfers. As for Bilbao, they are very upset when Williams' future is being speculated. Meanwhile, Leipzig is more open about transactions but as long as Barca has to pay enough.
At this time, Barca does not have enough money to buy both Williams and Olmo. As mentioned, the additional debt of 100 million Euros after losing the sale of ownership of Barca Studios has caused Barcelona to be very stuck when buying players. La Liga has announced that as long as they have not raised more money, the Camp Nou team cannot register more players.
Conversely, once the Barca Studios case is resolved, the Blaugrana will temporarily have enough money to close both of these contracts. Laporta and his associates need to find one or a few investors to buy ownership of Barca Studios for more than the next month, before the summer player market closes. In case they cannot achieve 100% of their wishes, as long as there is enough money to negotiate the Williams case, Barca will promote it first.
The Catalan giants still have a way to raise money in the short term this summer. The team has signed a shirt sponsorship contract with Nike until 2028. If both sides assess the situation in the coming time as good, Barca can ask Nike to advance the contract bonus. From there, they could have money to close the Williams case.
However, no matter what method is used, whether to lock down Williams or Olmo, the most certain way is to sell players. The brightest star at the moment on the transfer table is Ronald Araujo. The Uruguayan centre-back is valued at around €80 million.
With the appearance of young talent Pau Cubarsi, Araujo is no longer an award-winning player in defence. In fact, if the 25-year-old wants a higher salary, he should leave Camp Nou because Barca currently have no money to increase the salary fund.
In addition to Ronald Araujo, Frenkie de Jong is also a name mentioned a lot. Worryingly, these two stars are currently injured and it will be difficult for any team to look forward to them, unless they are at a disadvantage.
Some other cases such as Ansu Fati and Clement Lenglet also have no place in the squad and have been loaned out. However, their salary is too high, making no team want to spend money to buy them.
Raphinha and Ferran Torres are also left open to leaving the team. If the pair leave Camp Nou, it would be reasonable to add Williams and Olmo because their playing positions on the pitch are similar. However, after EURO and Copa America 2024, both Torres and Raphinha have said they do not want to leave Barca.
If they cannot sell people, Barca will have to play adventurous games using loan contracts. This summer, Joao Felix and Joao Cancelo are left open about their ability to lend. Once the pair temporarily leave the team, Barca will have more than enough in their salary fund to register Nico Williams and Dani Olmo.
However, if the Portuguese pair are loaned out but cannot sell in the future, it is unclear what penalty will the Camp Nou team receive from La Liga and UEFA?
