La Liga have confirmed that Barcelona's salary cap has been slashed by almost 50% for the 2023-24 season.
As a result of several years of mismanagement by members of club's hierarchy, the Catalan giants have endured significant financial struggles which has had a major impact on their business in the transfer market.
Barca have been forced to reduce their wage bill in recent years to balance their books and have seen a number of high-profile players leave the club as a result, most notably club icon Lionel Messi departing upon the expiration of his contract in the summer of 2021.
Ousmane Dembele, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba, Antoine Griezmann and Franck Kessie all bid farewell to Camp Nou earlier this summer, the latter joining Paris Saint-Germain, while the likes of Ansu Fati, Clement Lenglet, Eric Garcia and Sergino Dest have all departed on loan.
In terms of summer incomings, Barcelona spent just €3.4m to sign experienced midfielder Oriol Romeu, while Ilkay Gundogan and Inigo Martinez have joined on free transfers, and Joao Cancelo and Joao Felix have arrived on loan from Manchester City and Atletico Madrid respectively.
The latest salary caps imposed by La Liga president Javier Tebas are based on the revenues and spending of each Spanish top-flight club from the previous campaign.
Official figures released confirm that Barcelona's salary cap has drastically dropped from €648m (£555.8m) in February earlier this year to just €270m (£231.6m).
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This limit is the maximum amount that the Catalan giants can spend during the current campaign and will dictate the club's plans for spending on players and coaches at senior and youth levels as well as other members of staff employed by the club heading towards the winter transfer window and beyond.
Barca's current player and staff costs are believed to be in the region of £347m, exceeding their new limit by approximately 50%, meaning that they will only be allowed to use around half of any revenue that they generate if they wish to bolster their squad in January.
The Catalan club will most likely look to sell players in the winter window to generate funds in an attempt to break even, but failing to do so may result in a further decrease of their salary cap in 2024-25.
According to journalist Helena Condis, Barcelona are not surprised by the latest salary cap reductions and president Joan Laporta is calm about the situation as he hopes that the club will soon receive a payment of around €40m from Libero Football Finance to purchase shares of the club at some stage this month.
Athletic Bilbao (€27m), Sevilla (€22m), Atletico Madrid (€19m) and Real Betis (€10m) have also had their salary caps reduced for this season, while Real Madrid have seen theirs increase by €44m.
Barcelona, the reigning La Liga champions, have picked up 10 points from their first four top-flight matches this season and Xavi's side will return to action at home against Real Betis on Saturday evening.
Oliver Thomas
