Barcelona look to raise €70m in sales to balance books, club open to exits from group of six stars
by Sumeet PaulBarcelona reportedly need to raise €70m by the end of June to balance their accounts and so naturally player sales are touted as a possible solution.
The Catalan giants are in a strong position to end the current season with trophies as they remain in the hunt for the La Liga title and the Champions League when the campaign gets the green light to resume.
However, there are seemingly concerns over their financial situation, as it has been suggested that player sales will be needed to balance their books, as per ESPN. It’s noted that €70m will be needed by the end of June, with Arthur Melo, Ivan Rakitic, Arturo Vidal, Junior Firpo, Samuel Umtiti and Nelson Semedo all specifically named as possible solutions to help them hit that target.
That said, they’re not the only club to be adversely impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, and so it remains to be seen if limited spending from others will make life difficult for the reigning La Liga champions to raise the needed funds to give themselves an important financial boost.
With regards to the players in question though, it’s questionable as to how they would sell the individuals named above and not risk weakening the squad which in turn could result in a negative impact on results on the pitch.
Firpo remains the only senior option to fill in behind Jordi Alba at left-back, Semedo has emerged as the first-choice option at right-back while aside from Umtiti, Gerard Pique and Clement Lenglet are the only other senior options to fill the centre-half slots.
Arthur, 23, is arguably a long-term fix in midfield, and so perhaps offloading either Rakitic or Vidal would make sense as the stalwarts may have limited roles moving forward.
Nevertheless, it’s one thing making sense of what suits the team best and another raising the necessary funds from selling the others. Based on the report above, it sounds as though it could be a complicated period for Barcelona and it won’t be long before that deadline comes around.
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