LALIGA
How much have LaLiga champions Barcelona reduced their wage bill by this summer?
Barça’s financial issues have been well-documented but the departures of Griezmann, Dembélé, Busquets and Alba have helped turned things around.
Prior to a number of departures and arrivals at Barcelona in recent months, the LaLiga champions’ wage bill amounted to a whopping €566,460,767 (just under $607 million), which represented a wage-to-turnover ratio of 73%, according to UEFA’s calculations. With the 2023 summer transfer window now closed, that figure has now dropped to 54%.
How much have Barça saved on players in recent months?
La Blaugrana have been able to save a total of €212,771,159 (almost $228 million) thanks to wages being freed up and player amortisation, thanks to a whole host of players - Antoine Griezmann, Gerard Piqué, Francisco Trincão, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba, Nico González, Franck Kessie, Ousmane Dembélé, Sergiño Dest, Clément Lenglet, Ansu Fati, Eric García and Ez Abde - all leaving the club, either permanently or on loan.
On the flip side, Barça have made just five summer signings (Oriol Romeu, Ilkay Gündogan, Joao Félix, Joao Cancelo and Íñigo Martínez), whose salaries and amortisation for the season will amount to €50,562,711 (around $54.17 million).
How much have Barcelona spent in the summer 2023 transfer window?
Despite bringing in some elite-level players, those five arrivals cost the Catalans only €3.4 million ($3.64 million) in transfer fees, which was all spent on Romeu. Gündogan and Martínez both arrived as free agents, while Portuguese duo Félix and Cancelo have been loaned to the Catalans by Atlético Madrid and Manchester City respectively.
How much Barça made this summer?
In terms of incomings, Barça made €81.5 million ($87.32 million) from the sales of Griezmann (€19 million/$20.36 million), Trincao (€5 million/$5.36 million), Kessie (€7.7 million/$8.25 million), Nico (€7.2 million/$7.71 million), Dembele (€35.4 million/$37.93) and Abde (€7.5 million/$8.04 million).
Catalans’ bank balance gets welcome boost
Barcelona’s transfer activity in the last few months has therefore seen them pocket €78.1 million ($83.68 million), with the focus in recent times very much on slashing the wage bill and improving the club’s perilous financial state, mainly caused by lavish spending (including over €150 million ($160.72 million) on Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and Jules Koundé just last year).