Exclusive with Barcelona VP Romeu: We need €500 million to save the club

Barcelona remain in crisis. On June 16, they will hold a General Assembly for members to vote on two issues "to be able to bring the club back from the dead," as explained by vice president for finance Eduard Romeu in an interview with Diario Sport. Romeu says the situation is reversible as Barça seek authorisation from socios to sell a stake in merchandising and television rights.

Who would you define the club's current financial state? 

It's still critical, but the advantage compared to a year ago is we know where we are and we have detected the problem. We know what the drama is.

How much money is needed to overcome this drama?

The number doing the most damage is asset imbalance. The negative capital of €500 million. You could add €150m to that in losses this season if we didn't do anything. I said it before, if someone wants give me €500m... That is what we need to save Barça.

With the famous palancas (financial operations/levers) you can do that?

Yes, but these levers have to be rationed properly because it's not a cash issue. It's an image issue. Yes, money is needed to do some things. You can't negotiate some uncomfortable situations if you don't have money to pay or liquidity. In addition, if you need to strengthen the team because you have not hit the targets you had, you need money.

It's all down to what was inherited from Bartomeu? 

It is what it is. It comes from what we inherited. Things they did, things not done well, things they didn't do. If we talk about the Espai Barça, which is essential, it led to three years of less income, for example.

Do you regret devaluing so many players last summer, LaLiga say you shot yourselves in the foot?

We knew it was a bold decision but it was necessary to have a clear image of the situation. It was €160m in devaluations and the first deal we have done from there, the sale of Coutinho, we have seen that we still came up short -- €17m short. It shows that it was not a cushion that we had just invented. The best thing was to do it, like now we have to attack the issue of deferred salaries and growing contracts that condition the upcoming seasons.

How much is that?

Between €120m and €150m. Now we have to negotiate with everyone. It will be case by case.

How do you explain to members ceding or selling assets? 

We re trying to resuscitate a dead person and we are lucky that the club has potential and a brand that we have been able to put in value, real estate assets and a series of other assets. If the owners of the club (the members) don't want to save the club by putting money in, they have to allow us to use those assets and that value to resuscitate (the club).

Two of the levers are BLM (merchandising) and Barça Studios. What's the latest?

Barça Studios has already been authorised and we have offers, but we don't like them. We have to use the other levers: BLM and television rights. For BLM, we have an offer of €275m. It's a good offer if we keep in mind the whole of Barça Corportate was valued at €200m. But for us it's not enough. To get more money, we need time, which is the sword of Damocles that we have. Time and patience.

The most urgent issue is closing this year without losses?

It is one of our priorities. After three years of losses, we have to turn the situation around. It's important to show to the market that when we say something, we do it. It gives us credibility for future projections.

The easy thing was to accept CVC and LaLiga's offer, why not?

It was the easiest because it allowed us to overcome the negative capital, given between the two offers from CVC and LaLiga Impulso we had negotiated for €540m. The two offers were linked. If we had done it, in one year we would have done what we plan to do in five. We would have taken it to the members and it would have passed. But it would have left the club worse than when we came in. Why should we pay debt off at more than 10% when we have achieved another [offer] with interest less than 2%?

The no is final?

Yes. For us, despite all the pressure we have received and the Fair Play issue we always have to keep in mind, it's a bad deal. From a financial point of view it's settled and I think the president has been very clear.