Barcelona president Laporta claims he was lied to by predecessor Josep Maria Bartomeu
Barcelona president Joan Laporta has revealed the Spanish membership is 1.35bn euros (£1.15bn) in debt, describing the scenario as “very worrying”.
The membership’s wage invoice presently accounts for 103% of whole earnings.
Laporta blames predecessor Josep Maria Bartomeu for the debt, accusing him of leaving a “horrible inheritance”.
Extending Lionel Messi’s contract would have made the wage invoice accountable for 110% of income, which La Liga refused to simply accept.
Messi introduced an emotional exit from the Nou Camp final week and signed for Paris Saint-Germain on a two-year contract.
“Our salaries symbolize 103% of the membership’s whole earnings, that is 20-25% greater than our opponents,” mentioned Laporta, now in his second time period as president after successful March’s election.
“The very first thing we needed to do after we arrived was to ask for a mortgage of 80m euros as a result of, in any other case, we couldn’t pay the salaries. The earlier regime was stuffed with lies.
“Barcelona has a damaging web price of 451m euros – it’s a horrible inheritance. What has been taking place could be very worrying.”
Bartomeu defended himself in an open letter launched on Saturday, claiming monetary measures he would have put in place had he not been pressured to resign in October would have allowed Messi to remain at Barcelona.
“As is thought, our board of administrators deliberate to name elections on 21 March, throughout the statutory interval on the finish of our mandate, which might have allowed us to tackle and perform the settlement of the 2020-21 season accounts,” Bartomeu mentioned.
“We’d then have taken the selections essential to keep away from arriving on the present monetary scenario.
“We’d have been the one ones accountable for the closure [due to the pandemic] and its penalties, a choice that the brand new board has not taken all through these previous months, making clear their inaction.”
Laporta described Bartomeu’s letter as “an effort to justify administration that’s unjustifiable” and “an train in desperation”, including: “They won’t escape their doing.”
New signings Memphis Depay, Eric Garcia and Rey Manaj had been solely capable of be registered by La Liga after defender Gerard Pique agreed to a wage minimize to adjust to wage cap guidelines.
