FC Barcelona could reverse its deteriorating financial situation within a year and a half, president Joan Laporta said in a news conference on Monday, after saying the club ended up in the red for 451 million euros ($531 million) last year. . “I think in a few years the club will be healthy,” he told reporters, adding that the team has several potential sponsorship deals open to him.
With their finances in dire straits after years of wage inflation and costly transfers, the club could not afford to renew their contract with star striker Lionel Messi, causing his move to Paris Saint-Germain last week.
Nevertheless, Laporta said he was optimistic for the future, emphasizing that the club has several options open to it, including some 17 investors interested in Barca Studios, which is the club’s audiovisual player. Links businesses together and serves as a hub for events.
“We have so many offers and it’s obviously encouraging, our morale is very high,” he said.
Laporta said Barcelona’s previous management had contracted investment bank Goldman Sachs to look for potential investors for the club’s commercial arm, but none of the offers were satisfactory.
Laporta said the club’s total debt stood at 1.35 billion euros, of which 673 million were owed to banks.
Last week Reuters reported that Goldman had agreed to lend 1 billion euros for private equity firm CVC’s planned multibillion-euro investment in Spain’s top soccer league, LaLiga, which Barcelona had chosen.
Along with rivals Real Madrid and Athletic Bilbao, Barca voted against the proposal at a general assembly last Thursday.
Laporta had previously dismissed the deal as “mortgaging the club’s television rights for the next 50 years”, even though the cash injection could allow Messi to stay at Camp Nou.
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