Cash-strapped Barca haven’t paid last month’s wages
BARCELONA’S reputation as a model club is in tatters after their new president admitted they need a £125m loan because they still have not paid last month’s wages.
Sandro Rosell, who succeeded Joan Laporta last week, said he had been forced to offload defender Dmitro Chygrinskiy to raise funds to ease cash-flow.
“We found a club in debt, with liquidity problems. The squad were supposed to be paid at the end of last month and still haven’t been,” said Rosell. “We’ll fix a loan of €150m (£125m). The club is not bankrupt because it generates income.”
Only last week Barca trumpeted an increase in revenue to £370m, but Rosell said the club was now in trouble because “it has spent more than it has made”.
Chygrinskiy was sold back to former Shakhtar Donetsk this week for an £8m loss just 12 months after he had been signed, a deal Rosell said helped “resolve this tension”.
The revelations cast huge doubt on Barca’s ability to sign Cesc Fabregas, who Arsenal are refusing to sell unless they receive a mammoth offer.
But Rosell insists they still have at least £40m to spend this summer.