BarcelonaBarça is resigned to losing money with the large contracts inherited from Josep Maria Bartomeu’s board. In November, the ARA contacted the club to ask about the future of Clément Lenglet, one of the loanees who does not count for Xavi Hernández. At the time he had good press at Tottenham and rumors were coming from England that Spurs could buy him. But even then at the Camp Nou they were down to earth: “If we save our salary and collect the outstanding repayments, it will already be a success.” The pessimistic forecasts have been fulfilled and today the French central defender is one of the players on the exit ramp for Barça.
The case of Lenglet, which the sports management would like to solve this week, is another example that the club needs to remove ballast in order to free up the wage bill and be able to strengthen itself. So far, only Umtiti has been released from first-team football, even if he has been losing money: an agreed contract termination in which the player receives a generous portion of his guaranteed salary. Umtiti’s portfolio was particularly bloody: his salary cost 20 million. For this reason, he ended up opting for the lesser evil: faced with the difficulties of finding him a way out due to his high fee – last season he played on loan at Lecce, but with Barça taking on a large part of the salary -, finally has reached a termination agreement of which the club did not want to communicate the figures.
Managing large contracts is a pain in the ass and is the main headache that Mateu Alemany has encountered since he arrived at Barça with president Joan Laporta. But it is not an exclusive case of football. The sections are also cutting costs and one of those affected is Nikola Mirotic, to whom the club cannot pay the 22 million gross euros he has signed for the next two seasons. The reason that led Barça to rule out the continuity of the Montenegrin is the fair play economic stipulated by the Football League: all sports salaries count towards this cap.
“We are in a situation that is what it is and you know that we have presented a viability plan to the League. In order to be able to register players we must comply with the plan. The League requires us to have a certain, not exaggerated, reduction in the part of the sections “justifies Laporta. Unlike what happens with the football staff, the compensations of the sections do not count in the fair play. This, together with an improvement in relations with Javier Tebas, makes the Barcelona president confident of solving the Mirotic file. Although, as in the case of Umtiti, the Camp Nou offices have their necks down that they will end up losing a good handful of money with his release.
Olympiacos is following Mirotic’s situation
There is still no agreement with the Montenegrin. The organization has made him different financial proposals, but the player is asking for at least 16 of the 22 million gross euros he has signed. One of the offers is to pay him a one-year contract, but from the summer of 2024. If there is no agreement, the situation will be resolved with a termination letter or in court. Until there is a solution, Mirotic cannot sign with another team. Olympiacos, which will receive a good financial return for Sasha Vezenkov’s departure to the NBA, is the latest top-level team to be interested in signing him.
As for basketball, the goal is to reduce the team’s wage bill by more than 12 million euros and go from the almost 40 million euros invested this year to 27.2. It’s the biggest cut in the history of the division, and it won’t be clear how much money it will have until it knows how much it will cost to release the power forward. The next release to be negotiated is that of Cory Higgins. In addition, Kyle Kuric and Mike Tobey will not continue at Barça, which wants to incorporate Joel Parra, from Joventut, and with an exit clause of one million euros.
2023-07-03 18:30:53
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