Debt-addled Barça’s salary cap tumbles, Real Madrid budget over 7x higher

Madrid, Sep 29 (EFE).- FC Barcelona’s overall salary cap has been chopped down from 347.1 million euros ($404 million) to 97.9 million euros as the club tries to extrapolate itself from an era of torrid financial mismanagement while El Clásico rivals Real Madrid saw their budget swell, according to LaLiga Wednesday.

The cap for the struggling Catalan giants, which represents a 70% slash from last season and includes all wage outgoings at every level of the club, is less that one seventh of Real Madrid’s budget, which grew from 473.3 million euros last year to 739.2 million despite the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

As of August, Barça’s debt totaled some 1.35 billion euros, the club’s new president Joan Laporta said.

In a bid to cut spending, the club has already shed many of its stars, including Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Antoine Griezmann, reducing the first XI to a core of veterans like Gerard Pique and Jordi Alba surrounded by young players like Ansu Fati and Pedri.

Real Madrid’s budget is far greater than any other club in the Spanish league, more than three times higher than Sevilla, which has the second highest spending limit at just over 200 million euros.

Standing between Sevilla and Barcelona are: Atlético Madrid (171.6 million), Villarreal (159.3 million), Real Sociedad (127.7 million) and Athletic Club (111.8 million).

Valencia, another team racked by financial woes, has the smallest budget in LaLiga this year, tumbling to 30.9 million from 93.1 million. EFE

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