DBasia.news – Barcelona president, Joan Laporta revealed new facts related to the financial crisis that hit his club. He did not hesitate to reveal the faults of Josep Maria Bartomeu.
Bartomeu was the previous Barcelona president who stepped down a year before his term ended. The person concerned was in trouble with the law because of the Barcagate case.
Laporta without hesitation pointed to Bartomeu as the culprit of Barcelona’s financial crisis. This problem also influenced the departure of Lionel Messi.
Laporta has strong evidence for this argument. He turned out to find a number of frauds carried out by Barcelona’s management in the Bartomeu era so that the club’s debt swelled.
“The reduction in wages by the previous management was not real. We have found the burden of millions in various types of bonuses and variables included in the new contract,” Laporta said at a press conference on Monday (16/8) local time.
“We have found a disproportionate payment to a non-agent intermediary for a transfer that cost 40 million euros. Someone was paid 8 million euros to find a player in South America.”
“Entity control is bypassed and invoices are split like ‘I3 Ventures’ with ‘Barcagate’. The contracted debt is also divided so that it does not go through the Assembly,” he added.
Laporta’s strong statement is not without reason. Bartomeu had indeed accused him of not being able to bring Barcelona out of the crisis.
Bartomeu even confidently believes that Messi would not have left had he still served as president. He claims he already has a plan to save Barcelona’s finances.
Barcelona’s Financial Condition
On the same occasion, Laporta explained Barcelona’s latest financial condition. He did not deny the existence of the high amount of debt.
Surprisingly, Barcelona’s salary expense reached 103% of total income. The amount is 25 to 30% higher than other Spanish clubs.
“We lost about 553 million euros. We have to pay 553 million euros more than our bill this year,” continued Laporta.
“That’s big money and reflects our current condition. Bank debt has even increased to 1.35 billion euros.”