Thursday, July 08, 2010

Financial Crisis Hurting Barcelona!

Just finished reading the following article: Barca need £135m loan but still want Cesc


  • New Barca president Sandro Rosell insists Barca can afford the £35million transfer fee for the Arsenal midfielder.

    But the club are going cap in hand to Spanish banks asking for a £135m loan.

    Rosell admitted: "The squad were supposed to be paid at the end of last month and still haven't been.

Players NOT getting paid at end of last month?

Interesting developments! (hehe: from a footballing perspective. :P) (But I won't be surprised to see an under the radar rescue like what we saw Under-the-Radar Rescue of Spanish Mortgage Banks )

In another article Barca debt could wreck deals for Cesc and Torres

  • .... New Barca president Sandro Rosell has even been forced to deny they are bankrupt, after borrowing almost £120million to pay players’ wages this week. Spiralling costs and a slump in revenue are the problem, with the latest blow a potential loss of TV money, after Mediaproduccion SL, which owns the Spanish rights, sought protection against bankruptcy.
    Barca have just sold Dmytro Chygrynskiy back to Shakhtar Donetsk for around £12m – £10m less than they paid for him a year ago – to raise cash.

    Team boss Pep Guardiola admitted: “I still believe in the player, but he had no chance to stay due to financial problems.”

    Rosell said: “We have a short-term problem and need the loans to finance our short-term obligations such as wages, but supporters and members can relax, we are not bankrupt.”

    But clearly the cash crisis puts their ability to enter this summer’s transfer market in doubt.

    Barca have pursued Fabregas since the end of the season and most Arsenal fans had resigned themselves to seeing their star midfielder leaving for Catalonia.

    But Gunners boss Arsene Wenger always maintained Fabregas was under contract and only a massive bid could prise him away. Rosell himself poured doubt on the transfer now happening, when he admitted Barca could not pay Arsenal’s asking price.

    He said: “There is no possibility of us paying 50-60million euros for Fabregas. The worst possible thing that could have happened is there was publicity over the possible deal, because it makes it very hard under these circumstances.”

    Barca have a seven-year £800m contract with Mediaproduccion but with no guarantees over payments that are now due. Rivals Real Madrid have their own financial headaches but have bank guarantees supporting their TV deal.

    This lack of cash in Spain means that Liverpool’s Torres and Mascherano will also probably stay put at Anfield.

Torres and Mascherano? I doubt Barca is really interested in this two, more so, Barca had signed David Villa.

But from a financial perspective, I have a feeling that European football could be hurt pretty bad by the financial crisis! ( I do hope NOT! )

4 comments:

Richard Cranium said...

I am reminded of what Wenger said at the start of the financial crisis over 18 months ago. He said no one will be spared by the credit crunch, and he had to curtail his spending for players. He fully expected football clubs to be badly affected, but don't know when.

He was grilled by Arsenal fans for not buying when he HAD to strengthen the squad.

It has now come to pass - a whole lot of EPL, and La Liga clubs are badly affected.

I hope Barca goes into receivership and sell Messi to Chelsea.

This is one reason I deeply admire Wenger the man. Smart, both economically and footbalistically. :)

Richard Cranium said...

And it would be pretty silly for Fabregas to go back next season, not when he's not even selected to start for Spain.

With Xavi and Iniesta in Barca, the best Cesc can hope for is starting on the bench. What a way to be considered one of the best midfielders in the world, no?

Moolah said...

Actually I am surprised that it's not Real Madrid that's in trouble. :P

random said...

richard its pretty obvious u are a Wenger fan :)

this is good news, I was beginning to think these "rich" clubs have a bottomless pot of gold

maybe it'll spread to chelski and citeh