Mueez Ajao
– Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi said Barcelona’s asset sales in the summer to fund signings were “not fair” and suggested UEFA would investigate their legality.
– Barca sold stakes in their domestic television rights and Barca Studios, an in-house production company, for over €700 million to allow them to spend more than €150m on the arrivals of Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and Jules Kounde. Five other players arrived as free agents.
– “Is this fair? No, it’s not fair. … Is it legal? I’m not sure,” Al-Khelaifi said in an interview with Politico published on Wednesday.
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– “If they allow them, others will do the same. UEFA of course have their own [financial] regulations. For sure they’re going to look at everything.”
– Barca were forced to sell off the assets to comply with LaLiga’s strict regulations and register their new signings with the Spanish league.
– By selling off 25% of their LaLiga media rights and a 49% stake in Barca Studios — which will now branch out into web3 and blockchain projects — they increased their league-imposed annual spending limit from minus-€144m to over €600m.
– While LaLiga have cleared the funding, Al-Khelaifi’s comments hint that UEFA will delve further into the legality of the business.
– Al-Khelaifi’s latest comments are an escalation of remarks he made on Friday, when he indirectly criticised Barca during a speech to European club bosses.
– “The new financial-sustainability rules are a positive development,” Al-Khelaifi said. “But we need to be careful. Dangerous levels of debt and magical equity deals are not a sustainable path.”
– Barca’s gross debt still stood at over €1 billion in the last publicly available accounts.
– In addition to his role as PSG president, Al-Khelaifi is also the European Club Association chairman, chairman of influential Qatari broadcaster beIN Media Group and a UEFA executive committee member.
– PSG were among eight clubs punished for overspending since 2018 by UEFA earlier this month, but Barcelona were not among them.
– However, the Catalan club were among 19 other clubs named that met the break-even standard only on technicalities, UEFA said, such as concessions made for the pandemic seasons, when many games were played without fans. They have subsequently been added to a watch list.
– Meanwhile, Barca are dealing with a defensive injury crisis ahead of the return of club football this weekend.
– Ronald Araujo successfully underwent surgery on a thigh tear in Finland on Wednesday, the club confirmed, but is expected to be out for up to three months, ruling him out of the World Cup.
– Defender Jules Kounde is also facing several weeks on the sideline following an injury picked up with France, while Barca have also revealed that Hector Bellerin sustained a calf injury in training this week.
– Sources have said that Bellerin will be out for up to four weeks, leaving Barca without three of the four players who have played at right-back this season — Kounde and Araujo among them.
– Sergi Roberto is the fourth player. He missed the win over Elche before the international break with a knock, but is back in training and could feature at Mallorca (TV ETC) on Saturday.
– Frenkie de Jong and Memphis Depay were also injured while on international duty last week.
