MESSI'S DEPARTURE FROM BARCELONA BY THE NUMBERS

When looking at FC Barcelona's financial status four years after earning a world-record transfer fee, it appears like a glamorous treasure chest has cursed the club's fortunes. When looking at FC Barcelona's financial status four years after earning a world-record transfer fee, it appears like a glamorous treasure chest has cursed the club's fortunes.

PSG exacted vengeance four months after Barcelona's stunning 6-1 comeback in the UEFA Champions League Round of 16, snatching the engineer of the remontada, triggering Neymar's €222 million buyout clause and following it up with a record-breaking €180 million transfer for Kylian Mbappé. It would appear to be science fiction to believe that four years after selling Neymar for a world record, Barcelona would not have enough money to register their new recruits or renew the contract of the club's finest player.

The Catalans have signed Memphis Depay, Sergio Agüero, and Eric Garca on free transfers, as well as triggering their €9 million buyback option to sign Emerson Royal from Real Betis, but due to La Liga salary cap rules, they have been unable to register any of their new signings in their 2021/22 squad. Barcelona will not be able to compete unless they can save more than €200 million. Barcelona will not be able to renew Lionel Messi's contract unless they can save more than €200 million, despite the Argentine's desire to reject other interested teams and sign a two-year deal.

Since 2013, La Liga has used an economic control system to keep track of the finances of all 42 clubs in Spain's top two divisions and set a season-long squad cost limit. This limits the amount of money a club can spend on first-team and youth-team players, as well as coaching staff and head physiotherapists. Each club has the option of deciding how to allocate funds. This regulates how much money each club can spend on first-team and youth-team players, as well as coaching staff and head physiotherapists. Each team can decide how to split transfer fees and wages, but they must not go above the expenditure limit.

The squad cost cap is based on financial data that each club must submit prior to the summer transfer window, including expected revenue for the coming season, previous year profits and losses, overhead costs, non-player contracts, current savings, any existing debt repayments, investments, and sources of external financing. The squad cost cap is based on financial data that each club must submit prior to the summer transfer window, including expected revenue for the coming season, previous year profits and losses, overhead costs, non-player contracts, current savings, any existing debt repayments, investments, and sources of external financing.

Barcelona offloaded veterans Ivan Rakiti, Arturo Vidal, and Luis Suárez for nominal amounts last summer, following their catastrophic 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League, with the latter's 21 goals helping Atlético Madrid to their first league title in seven years. Even after releasing numerous older players and selling several young prospects last year, the club still has a lot of deadwood to get rid of before they can start registering their new acquisitions.

Philippe Coutinho is one of the 'dead wood' players. Barcelona attempted to sign Coutinho in the last days of the summer transfer season after promptly responded to Neymar's move by signing Borussia Dortmund's Ousmane Dembélé for €105 million plus €40 million in bonuses. Their initial bid of £72 million was quickly rejected, as were two subsequent revised ones. Their original £72 million approach, as well as two subsequent better bids, were all quickly rejected by Liverpool, causing Coutinho to send an email transfer request. Coutinho's efforts were not in vain, as he was eventually purchased by Barcelona for a fee of £105 million, which may rise to £142 million with potential add-ons.

While Liverpool spent the money on Alisson and Virgil van Dijk, who were both key in the club's Premier League and Champions League triumphs, Coutinho was a colossal failure in his first 1.5 seasons at the club before joining Bayern Munich on loan, where he won the treble and scored the final two goals in their 8-2 Champions League victory over his parent club. He was a wizard. In his first three games under Ronald Koeman, he managed one goal and two assists, but a meniscus tear forced him to miss the bulk of the 2020/21 season.

If Barcelona is successful in loaning away Coutinho, Umtiti, and Pjani, they will save about €64 million in gross salary expenditures, but this will not be enough to get them under the salary cap. Player amortization is one of the key reasons behind this.

The cost of a player's transfer fee is stretched out over the duration of his contract thanks to player amortization. Pjani, who signed a four-year contract worth €60 million last summer, has already had €15 million of his cost amortized, leaving €45 million to be amortized. It would imply that Barcelona would face a loss if they allowed Pjani to leave for free this year. If Barcelona allowed Pjani to depart for free this year, the club would suffer a €45 million loss on the books. These losses and amortization costs are factored into Barcelona's squad cost constraints, with the club's overall amortization charges for the coming season being €144 million on its books.

With Real Madrid making some background noise, the situation for La Liga it's quite complicated. Overall with a lot of stars outside the ratio, the spanish tournament it's slowly killing itself.