Barcelona suffered a setback on Thursday when La Liga reduced the Spanish champions’ spending cap for the year to 270 million euros ($290 million).
The severe spending restrictions in the Spanish top division keep clubs from continuing to splurge on player salaries and transfers.
The previous cap for Barcelona was 649 million euros ($697 million), which was inflated by the club selling future television rights money as one of several financial “levers” it used.
According to Spanish media, the Catalans currently spend almost 400 million euros ($429 million) on salaries.
Barcelona will only be permitted to use about half of their income to develop their team until they make cuts to fall under the new limit as the penalty for surpassing the division’s spending ceiling.
Given the current circumstances, it is unlikely that Barcelona will make any substantial acquisitions in January; instead, greater spending cuts are required if they are to have enough money to add reinforcements in the summer.
This is true even if a number of players, like Ousmane Dembele, Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets, and others, left the team.
Goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen signed a new deal with the club in August until 2028, which allowed Barcelona to register new signings including loanees Joao Cancelo and Joao Felix.
“We have to thank him for restructuring his contract because it has allowed other players to register,” said club president Joan Laporta on Thursday.
La Liga president Javier Tebas said he did not know when Barcelona’s financial situation would return to normal.
“It depends on Barca and their business strategy,” Tebas told a news conference Thursday.
“Maybe they sell a great player and will take a giant step forward. We don’t know if they will.
“The whole medium and long-term strategy is set by the club, we don’t set it for them.”
Real Madrid, on the other hand, has a $780 million ($727 million) expenditure cap.
With a budget of 296 million euros ($318 million), Atletico Madrid is second only to Los Blancos.
Salaries for players and staff, transfer amortization charges, agent fees, bonuses, and other costs are all covered by La Liga’s spending cap.
The formula used to determine a team’s restrictions entails deducting its revenue from its debts and non-sporting expenses.
