BarcelonaThe cuts that are taking place at Barça, from the sections to the employees, via La Masia, are not going unnoticed in the dressing room and in the offices of the women’s Barça. As the ARA already explained in May, the current champions of the Champions League fear that they will affect in one way or another during the 2023-2024 academic year, in which the goal of the Blaugrana team is to raise the maximum continental title. As or more difficult than re-editing it will be retaining much of the backbone of the squad and the thinking minds off the pitch. Alexia Putellas, Mapi León, Patri Guijarro, Mariona Caldentey, Sandra Paños, Lucy Bronze, Marta Torrejón and Asisat Oshoala are out of contract in the summer of 2024. Also the coach, Jonatan Giráldez, and the general manager, Markel Zubizarreta.
“I don’t think the club can face all these renovations in its current economic situation. This summer, so that Barça could fulfill the fair play financially, Crnogorcevic has had to leave, but also Nuria Rábano and Emma Ramírez”, a source very close to the Barça dressing room explains to ARA. One of Zubizarreta’s fears – who sees his departure from the club ever closer -, and also of Giráldez, is that many of the players cannot be retained and the quality of the squad ends up impoverishing. And around the dressing room, which was expected to be much more forceful in the statement issued by case Rubiales, there is concern that the departure of the current general manager will cause the renewals to be negotiated with a person less prepared to carry out this task.
On the other hand, the F League context doesn’t help either. It took blood, sweat and tears for the management and the unions to agree on the minimum salary for the players, which must now increase for this course from 16,000 euros per year to 21,000. Finally, the competition will start this weekend after a day of strike and Barça will face at home this Saturday at 19:00 at Madrid CFF, the only team that was able to win it in the League on last year Meanwhile, other competitions such as the FA Women’s Super League (the English league) are gaining more and more financial power thanks to better management of clubs and institutions. Thus, if things do not change, Barça will find it increasingly difficult to compete financially against clubs such as Chelsea, Manchester United or Arsenal.
Proof of this is the departures this summer of Geyse Ferreira and Laia Codina, which were not planned by the Barcelona club. Barça has been unable to do anything about Manchester United’s salary offer for the Brazilian striker. According to what this newspaper was able to learn through Arístides Maillol’s sources, it was five times higher than Geyse’s salary at Barça. Also due to a higher salary proposal, Codina has left for Arsenal, despite the fact that in his case the lack of minutes in the Catalan team has been added due to having two haystacks in front of him in the central position like Mapi León and Irene Paredes.
Lack of competitiveness
But the economic question is not the only one that worries. Players from other leagues such as the English Lucy Bronze have shown their disappointment at the general low level in League F – Barça have won the last four editions, in which they have only conceded three draws and two defeats in total – and due to the conditions of some playing fields, which are still made of artificial grass. In fact, there are people with many ties to Spanish women’s football who explain that what the players in the lower rungs of professional football really want “isn’t to get paid 3,000 euros or so a year, that doesn’t solve them not much, but playing on natural grass pitches, having physiotherapists and better travel conditions”.
What is the solution?
Barça’s Sports Director, Xavi Budó, reported in a recent interview with Sports world that the Barça women’s budget forecast this year is 17.5 million euros. Despite this, Barça has only been able to bring in the Catalan full-back Ona Batlle and the young Dutch promise Esmee Brugts for free and has not been able to respond to the signing of a first-class striker in the face of the unexpected departure of Geyse Ferreira. Thus, she faces the course with only one player for the position of we: Oshoala.
In recent years it has been said that the Barça women’s team is the only section of the club that is self-sufficient. It’s a half-truth. Most of the income comes from sponsors who share with the men’s team, such as currently Spotify and Bimbo and previously Stanley, who, according to sources in Barça’s commercial area, still prioritize the men’s team despite the enormous successes of the female Thus, from the noble offices it is explained that “the only way that the feminine can remain at the same level as until now is that the masculine dopeas it happens with the other sections, because women footballers are increasingly valued and the English league will grow a lot.”
The doubt of the goal
The Barça squad this year has been very short due to the lack of reinforcements. It is made up of only 22 players who will have the help of footballers from the subsidiary such as Vicky López and Giulia Dragoni. One of the biggest doubts is who will be in goal. Sandra Paños has been the undisputed under the posts for the last few years, but Cata Coll’s breakthrough in the World Cup, which has cost Misa Rodríguez a place in the Spanish national team, means that some professionals already see her ready to go ahead of Paños at Barça. “La Cata is very good and is already in a position to take this step, especially if she is in her best physical condition,” assures a source close to the Barça dressing room. In any case, he warns that “Paños would not agree to be a substitute and this could be a bomb that would complicate the management of the group.”
2023-09-15 15:49:50
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