Barca's Dubious Investment Strategies
FC Barcelona is one of the most popular football clubs in the world. It has a huge global fan base and has been ranked as being the second most valuable sports team in the world, only behind it’s biggest rival Real Madrid ($5bn against $5.1bn).
It is also one of the most successful football clubs in Europe having won LaLiga 25 times, the Copa Del Rey 31 times, the Supercopa de Espana 31 times, and the UEFA Champions League on five occasions. But even teams like the Blaugrana suffer from financial difficulties.
Josep Maria Bartomeu
Everybody wanted FC Barcelona to succeed, but under Ronald Koeman they suffered from poor results. The team struggled to string together wins, and fans were left wondering what could have been. Some questioned whether Koeman was the right man for the job, but the Dutchman insisted that he was the one who could turn things around.
But there were many big problems that made Barcelona a money pit which was about to collapse.
#1 The departure of Messi
When Barcelona star striker Lionel Messi announced he was leaving the club after two decades, many fans and pundits alike saw it as a good move. Messi is, after all, one of the highest-paid athletes in the world and was set to make even more money in the next few years. Barca wasn’t able to cover his paychecks anymore. However, the club lost its main revenue stream: the whole marketing strategy revolved around Leo, and when he left, there was a huge hole in revenue – less ticket sales and less kit sales.
#2 The Flop Trio
Barcelona signed Philippe Coutinho, Antoine Griezmann, and Ousmane Dembele over the years for €350 million. But for that colossal sum, they had almost zero return. Coutinho and Griezmann already departured for €20m each, and Dembele manages to play a huge role in the team only when he’s not injured.
#3 Koeman’s complete failure as a manager
Ronald Koeman is a Barca legend as a footballer, but nobody wants to remember his reign as a manager. Ugly style, quarrels with the dressing room, and poor results. At some point, Barcelona had 60,000 empty seats against Granada, or about 60%.
Joan Laporta – a true saviour or a tragedy in disguise
Joan Laporta is a bit like the cryptocurrency market: totally unpredictable. And just like you can buy Bitcoin with credit card and secure your financial wellbeing, he did the same with FC Barcelona, by activating financial levers.
His financial backing of now-manager, Xavi, meant that he could recoup a lot of fresh money and get great players like Andreas Christensen, Frank Kessie, Marcos Alonso, and Hector Bellerin for free, as well as the promising defender from Sevilla Jules Kounde, Raphinha, and the great Robert Lewandowski (currently top goalscorer in La Liga).
This would not happen without Joan Laporta’s connections and financial levers, like selling 25% of Barca Studios for €100m, and other previous moves – like rebranding Nou Camp to Spotify Nou Camp – a deal worth over €280m.
La Liga results improvement
It wasn’t until recently when Xavi recorded the longest unbeaten run in La Liga’s history, surpassing another big midfielder from the past – Zinedine Zidane. Eighteen games without a loss was an impressive record. However, Xavi’s team lost to Real Madrid 3-1 at Santiago Bernabeu to end this streak and put Real Madrid 3 points clear of the Blaugrana.
The team has conceded just 4 goals so far this season, and has scored 21 – the second biggest goal tally behind Real Madrid. Robert Lewandowski is a goalscorer of the league and it seems like we’re about to see a battle for the title. However, it’s not all good.
Champions League story of bad luck
FC Barcelona drew Bayern Munich and Inter, as well as Viktoria Plzen, in the so-called “Group of Death.” The German side is already seen as a nightmare in Catalonia, and is crusing towards the first place in group C.
Last year, Barca were in a similar situation when Benfica kicked them out of the “Rich’s Tournament.”, only to see them get defeated in Europa League by eventual winners Eintracht Frankfurt.
This time around, it’s Inter Milan that is running away, and 4 points in their remaining 2 games (1 of which against the absolute outsider Plzen) will seal their second place.
However, Champions League prize money is around 3.6 times more, so missing out on eliminations could see Barca lose up to €30m in prize money, plus a lot from TV rights, ticket prices, merch, etc.
Final words
Barcelona has a good squad and is fighting for La Liga. However, they’ve sold a lot of its brand and if they don’t manage to get back on track, we might see this great side crumble.
Image: Tim Roosjen on Unsplash
