Barcelona Economic Chief - 'Nobody is hiding the fact that we owe clubs €200m for signings'

Barcelona are in the process of releasing their latest financial accounts for the 2022-23 season, and their budget for the 2023-24 season. These will then be put to the members for approval at the general assembly, but some rather worrying numbers have been revealed.

Vice-President of the Economic department Eduard Romeu presented the details to the press, and one phrase in particular stood out.

“Nobody is hiding the fact that we owe clubs €200m for signings.”

It’s symbolic of the financial issues that the club is going through, and many plates they are juggling to try and keep the club competitive but also vaguely solvent.

Romeu also told Marca that they had not had the income they expected from their transfer business.

“With Griezmann we budgeted €40m and in the end it was only €20m.”

In general, Barcelona surpassed their budgeted income by €30m, but their costs were an extra €100m over their budget, meaning a significant drop in profits on what was expected. Barcelona remained in the black, but their wage bill still forms nearly 80% of their costs, well above the recommended 55-60%.