Barcelona raise fresh €100m in desperate bid to register new players for Liga season
Barcelona are struggling to meet La Liga’s financial fair play rules
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Your support makes all the difference.Barcelona have sold a 24.5% stake in their audiovisual studio to production company Orpheus Media for €100million euros (£85m), the Liga club said on Friday, as they look to raise more funds to register new players.
The agreement comes after the club signed a deal with digital fan token firm Socios.com to sell off 25% of their stake in Barca Studios last month.
“With this investment the strategic partners in Barca Studios show confidence in the value of the project and the future of digital content in the world of sport,” the club said in a statement.
Barca have been using several mechanisms to increase their revenue in order to offset losses, reduce debt and fulfil La Liga’s financial fair play rules.
The club have signed five players already this summer – Andreas Christensen, Franck Kessie, Raphinha, Robert Lewandowski and Jules Kounde – and are keen to add Chelsea’s Marcos Alonso and Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva to the mix. Christensen and Kessie are both understood to have clauses in their contract which ensure they can leave the Nou Camp immediately for free if they cannot be registered before the end of the month.
They currently have 17 senior players registered ahead of the season’s start this weekend: Marc-Andre Ter Stegen (1), Sergino Dest (2), Gerard Pique (3), Ronald Araujo (4), Jordi Alba (18), Eric Garcia (24), Samuel Umtiti (no number), Sergio Busquets (5), Pedri (8), Miralem Pjanic (16), Frenkie de Jong (21), Nico Gonzalez (no number), Ferran Torres (11), Ansu Fati (10), Memphis Depay (14), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (17) and Martin Braithwaite (no number).
The deals follow the club’s sale last month of a further 15% stake in their LaLiga TV rights to U.S. private equity group Sixth Street, giving Sixth Street a 25% stake.
Barca need to meet LaLiga’s salary cap to register their new signings and the new investment deals as well as the potential sale of Dutch midfielder Frenkie de Jong could get them the green light from the league.
Club chief Joan Laporta, who presided over one of Barca’s most successful periods between 2003 and 2010, said in August 2021 that their debts totalled €1.35billion, with €673million owed to banks.
In June, Barca approved the sale of a minority share of their licensing and merchandising division and the cession of up to 25% of their income from LaLiga TV rights.
The club also signed a shirt and stadium sponsorship deal with Spotify in an agreement worth €280million and approved financial plans in December to renovate Camp Nou, including raising an additional €1.5billion in debt.
Xavi Hernandez’s side will begin their LaLiga campaign at home to Rayo Vallecano on Saturday.
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