Barcelona’s disastrous finances have been laid bare as they have been given just a €98million (£85m) salary cap by LaLiga for 2021-22 season – a seventh of Real Madrid’s €739m (£638m).
The Catalan club’s financial Armageddon has been well documented and was behind their inability to keep hold of their greatest ever player this summer in Lionel Messi, who left on a free to join Paris Saint-Germain.
have long held firm on their stance that they would not make special dispensation for Barcelona and that was validated with salary cap figures for all 20 LaLiga clubs revealed on Wednesday.
Barcelona’s £85m cap for their entire playing squad is a major drop-off from what they were afforded just two years ago.
In the 2018-19 season the Catalan side had a salary cap of €671m (£580m), which was slashed to €382.7m (£331m), a fall of €288.3m (£249m).
But a further squeeze on Barcelona’s finances, exacerbated by the pandemic but due to unsustainable wage to turnover ratios, has seen that figure now fall to the £85m they have this season.
LaLiga introduced a salary cap back in 2013 in a bid to place more control on keeping member clubs away from major debts and repayments.
The salary limit for each team – they are individually worked out every season – is calculated by subtracting spending on squad (fees and wages) from total income earned.
That income is calculated from TV rights, sponsorship, money earned from LaLiga, club membership fees, publicity, and selling players.
In 24 months they have seen a drop of €288.3m (£249m) followed by a further drop of €284.8m (£246m) this season.
It goes a way to explain why Barcelona found themselves so desperate to move on high earners in the summer.
Club president Joan Laporta explained earlier in the summer to reporters that Barca’s wage bill with Messi on the books would equal 110 per cent of their income.
The gap in salary cap limits is staggering with Real Madrid far and away afforded a major advantage over rivals.
Sevilla, who are second only to Real Madrid, have been given a cap of £173m.
Valencia, who are owned and run by Peter Lim, who also has a controlling stake in League Two Salford City, have the league’s lowest budget with just £26m.
Clubs across Spain’s top two divisions suffered losses of €2billion (£1.73bn) for both the 2019-20 season and 2020-21 season due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Barcelona breached their reduced salary limit last season and LaLiga have previously stated that they will not tolerate a further breach.
LaLiga salary cap rating
SEVILLA – £173m
ATLETICO MADRID – £148m
VILLARREAL – £138m
REAL SOCIEDAD – £110m
ATHLETIC BILBAO – £97m
BARCELONA – £85m
ESPANYOL – £67m
REAL BETIS – £61m
CELTA VIGO – £57m
GETAFE – £56m
OSASUNA – £49m
GRANADA – £46m
REAL MALLORCA – £40m
CADIZ – £39m
ALAVES – £37m
RAYO VALLECANO – £36m
ELCHE – £36m
LEVANTE – £28m
VALENCIA – £26m
