La Liga News: Barcelona suffer record losses & Maicon to move to Real Madrid
Barcelona’s vice-president for economic affairs, Javier Faus, has claimed that the Spanish champions Barcelona have reportedly lost 77 million Euros last season.
Former Barcelona President Joan Laporta had earlier said that the club was in debt by 11 million euros at the end of the mandate in June. However, a new audit that was carried out by Deloitte for Sandro Rosell’s team has said that the club is financially not as strong as it is portrayed to the world.
According to the latest audit, Barcelona had an income of 408.9 million during last season, which is quite healthy. However, compared to the costs, that were 477.9 million, it looks very bad.
The audit revealed that there was a further spending of close to 8 million, which took the overall deficit to around 77.1 million Euros.
Faus said that the previous board did not show the true figures; he said that had a transparent financial standing been revealed, the deficit would have been clear much earlier.
He said that the problem lies in the structure of the club. He went on to say that the club has achieved a lot in terms of trophies over the last few years, but at the backend the financial handlings have not been done that well. He said that the new board has made it clear that they would look to establish financial excellence at the club as well as sporting excellence.
Barcelona was behind on payment of players in June, and took a loan worth 155 million Euros.
Central defender Dmytro Chygrynskiy was also sold to Shakhtar Donetsk to earn some quick cash for the club.
However, Barcelona did sign striker David Villa before the World Cup; the deal was signed for 40 million Euros. The spending spree does not end there: the Catalan giants are determined to sign Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas, and are prepared to pay almost the same amount for his services.
The new audit also reveals that the net debt of the club is around 442 million Euros, and the club may be forced to offload some players by the end of the new season to gather some cash.
Brazilian defender Maicon, who scored the first goal for Brazil in the 2010 World Cup, is on his way to Real Madrid. He will rejoin Jose Mourinho, with whom he achieved a treble at Inter Milan, where the side won the Serie-A, Coppa Italia and Champions League trophy.
It is believed that Inter and Real have finally reached an agreement; the transfer saga had been going on for months, as both clubs could not agree on a price for the defender.
Spanish newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport has published a report that claims that Inter Milan has accepted a bid from Real Madrid. Another newspaper, Corriere della Sera, has reported that the deal is believed to be worth 28 million Euros plus bonuses.
Maicon had been talking about making a move to Spain soon after he completed the treble with Inter Milan. Jose Mourinho, soon after winning the Champions League went to Real Madrid, and indicated that he would be taking a few players with him. Maicon was believed to be one of those players, and he had been adamant that he wanted a new challenge and more importantly wanted to follow his manager Mourinho.
Mourinho also said that Maicon had been an important part of his set-up at Inter, and he would love to have him at Real Madrid.
Tags: