‘Won’t become Ajax’ – La Liga president Javier Tebas launches stern defence of Barcelona | OneFootball

La Liga president Javier Tebas has on Thursday spoken out in defence of Barcelona, adamant that the Catalans boast all of the resources required to turn around their current financial predicament.

The subject of the monetary situation in Barcelona has of course long proven a headline talking point in the media not only in Spain, but across all of Europe.

As much comes with the Blaugrana having been forced into a host of emergency measures at board level, in an effort to maintain competitiveness on the pitch.

The most famous (or rather infamous) came last year, when the Catalan giants activated a series of ‘economic levers’, including the sale of future La Liga media rights, and the club’s in-house production platform, Barca studios.

Still some way off financial stability, however, it has been widely reported in the press of late that Barcelona are likely to be forced into several high-profile player sales in the summer, to balance the books once more.

This, of course, would mark a heavy blow, amid efforts to keep pace with a Real Madrid outfit looking set to add two of world football’s finest players – in the form of Kylian Mbappé and Alphonso Davies – to their ranks with a view to next season.

Speaking during an appearance at the Financial Times Summit in London on Thursday, the subject of Barcelona’s precarious fiscal situation was, in turn, inevitably put to aforementioned La Liga president Javier Tebas.

Asked directly whether the Catalans could become ‘the next Ajax’ – a club which produces and sells its best players – though, the Spanish patron was adamant that as much is not on the cards at the Camp Nou.

“That’s not going to happen,” Tebas began, as cited by Diario Sport. “Barcelona will get out of the situation it is in. Barcelona has options to take when its leaders decide that they believe will provide solutions. They have two or three top-level players who can be sold. With that they solve a large part of the problem. With that they can generate income that does not generate interest on debt and with that they can pay players.”

The La Liga chief continued:

“Barcelona is a club that earns almost a billion. As happens to many clubs, it is going through a complicated situation and our ‘fair play’ forces it to be where it is. As far as I know, they have not been eliminated from the Champions League and they can still win the Spanish League. There is no need to be so catastrophic about Barcelona.”

Conor Laird | GSFN