There were only 20 seconds left until midnight when the screen of the mobile phone lit up with a restless and nervous Joan Laporta, the president of the Barcelona. He received, in the end, the message he had been waiting for. Everything is OK. The triple movement –For example ceded fromAthletic al Chelsea; Griezmann, transferred from Barça to Atlético; i Luke de Jong, ceded from Sevilla at Barça-had materialized in the last sigh, causing a feeling of relief in the offices of the Sports City of the azulgrana club. Economic relief for the departure of the French star, the second highest paid player after Messi, so far the first. And sports relief because he had been in Barcelona for two years but seemed to continue under the influence of Simeone. Will come to Camp Nou, but his soul was always with him Cholo.
And the change – a world champion goes with France and comes the discarded Sevilla, the third striker who does not even want to see in paint Lopetegui– also portrays the misery that Barça is experiencing. An economically ruined club, with a debt of 1.35 billion euros, which in a single summer has seen Messi and Griezmann leave. He had no money to pay them, suffocated in such a way that the photography of the club is devastating. A photograph to present Ferran Reverter, the new CEO of Barça, at the assembly of delegates scheduled for next October. Already with all the numbers, all red, of the apocalyptic landscape he left behind Bartomeu at the Camp Nou. To Messi, the best player in the world and, perhaps, in history, replaces him Kun Agüero. And to Griezmann, Luuk de Jong, a striker who is also a concession to Koeman, assuming, in addition, the Seville a part of the player card.
Barça, once the market is closed, has a worse squad than last year, but has taken a step forward to survive. At stake is the sustainability of the club, which has only invested half a million euros in the transfer of Yusuf Demir (Fast from Vienna). With Messi a Paris i Griezmann a Madrid, the board has reduced the payroll. It goes from 565 million euros, 110% of what enters the club, to 420, about 85%. Figures still rampant, between 25% and 30% higher than the big European clubs. Lost Leo, everything else was inevitable.
145 million have been reduced in a summer full of hardships where Barça have needed that Pique first drop 25% and then defer your salary because Memphis i Eric García could debut against the Royal Society. Busquets i Jordi Alba they had to do the same for the League authorized the registration of the Kun Agüero on the last day of the market. No money in the coffers, overwhelmed by debts, using the credit of 570 million Goldman Sachs, the priority was to lower this payroll by betting on zero-cost signings (Kun, Eric and Memphis had to cut their salary by 25% before signing) and cheap ones to survive. The Barça club, for example, had closed the Griezmann-Joao Felix. Simeone, who does not have the young Portuguese, and Koeman, tired of seeing that the Frenchman was not a leader, agreed. But in the end the operation was thwarted, blocked by Miguel Angel Gil Marin, CEO of Atlético. However, the departure of Griezmann was essential for Barcelona.
Economic policy has always been ahead of sports, although in this case they agreed. Barça achieve a gross balance of 130 million euros in sales as there is a mandatory repurchase clause, 40 million, for Atlético. Barça were able to sign a striker on the last day, but decided to keep this option for the winter, assuming the social deterioration of Luuk de Jong by Griezmann. Until the summer of 2023 there will be no options to go to market with economic power. Economic misery causes the workforce to become remarkably powerless. The legacy of Bartomeu, who signed the three most expensive players in history (Dembele, Coutinho and Griezmann), has been so perverse and poisoned that he strangled Laporta, forced to sign even Messi’s Catalan will. Now Barça are forced to watch the Masia with Ansu wearing the 10 as a sign of change.
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