€200m of Barcelona accounts not counted towards La Liga salary limit | OneFootball

Barcelona have been battling financial fair play rules in La Liga for a considerable spell, running into serious issues at the start of the 2020-21 season. The Blaugrana have looked into a number of ways of the salary limit they would be left without ‘extraordinary sources income’ in order to remain competitive on the pitch, but it looks as if they will have to make up ground financially in order to raise money again this summer.

The most famous of those methods were the ‘economic levers’, which saw the Blaugrana sell off 25% of their TV rights for the next 25 years, as well as €49% of Barca Studios, for a total of €667m. Despite announcing a profit of €304m for the previous season at Barcelona, the Catalan side continued to find themselves restricted to using 50% of what they save and bring in to use for their salary limit, as they are currently over the limit. Based on their income, they are currently €200m over the limit. Part of the reason for that is the different criteria that Barcelona have used to present their own accounts compared to La Liga.

As part of the deal to sell 49%, Barcelona ‘re-valued’ their 51% share of Barca Studios at €208m, putting the Blaugrana into profit. However La Liga did not count this as a form of income, and thus Barcelona’s salary limit complications continue to look somewhat fraught ahead of the coming season.

There is still talk of one or two signings this summer for the Blaugrana, but equally many insiders are pointing out that unless there is a major sale at Barcelona, they could struggle to register some of their current squad. Regarding the signings of Vitor Roque and Inigo Martinez, it is believed that they have only been registered for one season of their seven and two-year contracts respectively, while Alejandro Balde, Lamine Yamal and Marc-Andre ter Stegen have all signed new deals this season.