How Barcelona reduced their salary bill hugely
FC Barcelona has reduced its wage bill by €161,751,612, now standing at €404,709,155 after the close of the summer transfer market for the 2023-24 season, according to information from EFE, which had access to the club's financial data.
This figure is remarkable because, before the operations carried out in recent months, FC Barcelona's sports wage bill amounted to €566,460,767, which represented 73% of the income ratio based on UEFA calculations. After the market closure, this percentage has been reduced to 54%, a much lower and more in line with the recommendations of the European football governing body.
The departure of many players, especially those with higher salaries like Griezmann and the team captains, explains this significant difference. The savings of €212,771,159 come from the salaries and amortizations of Antoine Griezmann, Gerard Piqué, Francisco Trincao, Jordi Alba, Nico González, Franck Kessie, Ousmane Dembélé, Sergiño Dest, Clément Lenglet, Ansu Fati, Eric García, and Ez Abde.
This summer, Barcelona signed five players (Oriol Romeu, Ilkay Gündogan, Joao Félix, Joao Cancelo, and Íñigo Martínez), whose salaries and amortizations this year will amount to €50,562,711.
The total cost of these five operations reached €3,400,000, corresponding to the transfer fee for Oriol Romeu from Girona. Gündogan and Íñigo Martínez arrived as free agents, while Barcelona agreed with Atlético de Madrid and Manchester City to take on the full salary of the Portuguese internationals, in the case of the defender, and part of it in the case of the forward.
In terms of transfers, Barcelona earned €81,500,000 this summer from the deals involving Griezmann (€19 million), Trincao (€5 million), Kessie (€7.7 million), Nico (€7.2 million), Dembele (€35.4 million), and Abde (€7.5 million).
Therefore, the difference between investments and transfers resulted in a €78,100,000 increase for the club's coffers, which, after the investments made in the previous season to reinforce the first-team squad, focused on reducing the wage bill this summer.
