da fezbet： The reigning La Liga champions are back in financial trouble, with no immediate avenue to negotiate their way out

da betway： With the sun beaming down on him in August 2022, club president Joan Laporta described Barcelona as being "out of the hospital". Stood alongside the club's biggest signing of the post-Lionel Messi era, Robert Lewandowski, Laporta clearly felt that the arrival of the Bayern Munich goal machine was a symbol of the club's clear recovery from potential financial ruin.

Twelve months earlier, Barca were nearing bankruptcy, and, presumably, no longer part of Europe's elite. Laporta inherited a club that was over €1 billion in debt, riddled with player-friendly contracts, and defined by its poor performances on the pitch. In his second stint in charge, it was Laporta's job to put things right.

"A year ago, sadly, we had to announce an unwanted situation as a result of the club's economic situation, but a year has passed and we can say that we are turning things around," he asserted at Lewandowki's unveiling.

Laporta's infamous solution was the pulling of a series of economic 'levers', financial moves that allowed the Blaugrana to deal their way back to relevance on the continent. But 18 months on from Laporta's grin before a packed Camp Nou, it's unclear where Barca's future lies.

Their capacity to make further signings has been curtailed, while that summer of spending has, while it admittedly led to a league title, has left Barca with an ageing striker and a handful of other signings that haven't quite convinced.

Now, Barca don't have anymore levers to pull, or loopholes to exploit. Reality has caught up, and the club are once again being forced into bargain-bin deals and penny-pinching in order to stay competitive in La Liga, never mind the Champions League. The money hasn't dried up — not yet — but it could soon, and Barca seem to be in big trouble.

(C)GettyImagesWhat are the 'levers'?

Laporta's idea of pulling financial 'levers' to raise funds is a pretty unique one in top-level football, but it's a relatively simple idea: Sell bits of the club now — for less than they should really be worth — to attain an immediate cash injection.

And for an organisation in Barcelona that was, in the words of former chief executive Ferran Reverter, "technically bankrupt", it made sense. The Blaugrana are not allowed time for a rebuild, bringing through academy talents through while taking solace from a Copa del Rey or Supercopa win. Instead, they have to compete for every trophy in every season.

Laporta was trying to sell his way out of financial ruin. First up was U.S. private equity firm Sixth Street, who offered €267m (£229m/$277m) for 10 percent of Barca's domestic TV revenue for 25 years — an immediate lift that temporarily halted economic nightmares. When it became clear that they needed new signings, Laporta called upon Sixth Street again, selling another 15% for €315 million (£268m/$320m.) Add in a few other deals, and the Blaugrana raised just shy of €700m in one summer, enough to piece together a side capable of competing for La Liga.

But there was a caveat: new signings need to be paid. All of the work that Barca had done in cutting wages — not least by offloading Messi — was rendered moot. So, Laporta turned elsewhere for another two 'levers'.

Two companies, Orpheus Media and Socios.com, bought 24.5% stakes each in Barca Studios, the club's in-house media outlet. Those deals freed up £180m due to the valuation of the company, and the new arrivals could be paid. Club saved, it seemed…

AdvertisementGetty ImagesWho they helped sign

There's some complexity here, but in short, pulling those 'levers' got Barca over the line in last season's title race. Lewandowski was, of course, the marquee signing, and at the time, it seemed a stroke of genius. Here was a world-class striker, who had achieved everything at Bayern and wanted one last chance at a big contract. There were certainly some questions to be asked about the tactical fit, the Pole's age and his declining athleticism, but Barca needed goals, and Lewandowski would almost certainly provide plenty of them.

The other transfer business didn't quite convince in the same way. Still, Barca spent big to bring in highly-rated centre-back Jules Kounde and impactful winger Raphinha. Add Franck Kessie and Andreas Christensen, who both arrived as well-paid free agents, and Barca had the makings of a squad to compete.

The other key piece of the puzzle was the collapse of Frenkie de Jong's proposed move to Manchester United. The Netherlands midfielder had all-but sealed his transfer to Old Trafford in July 2022, with terms agreed and De Jong seemingly prepared to move.

An unexpected U-turn, though, meant that the midfielder stayed — and became a key part of Xavi's title-winning side. His departure would have, presumably, helped fund another signing, but its disintegration meant that Barca held onto a player who would become key to them supplanting Real Madrid.

Getty ImagesXavi tastes success

This wasn't all just an economic proposition, of course. Laporta may have offered the funding for the squad, but it still required top-level coaching to piece it all together.

Xavi was something of an unknown quantity in that realm, especially after his first nine months at the helm had brought little success, though he could be forgiven for struggling given the squad and financial mess he inherited. Messi's locker being taken by Luuk de Jong provided a measure of just how far Barca had fallen.

Still, with new arrivals injecting quality into his team, Xavi went about providing a winning formula in 2022-23. His team weren't breath-taking to watch like Pep Guardiola's tiki-taka side, and at times, they were fairly unwatchable.

But they grinded their way to the Liga title on the strength of the best defence in Europe and timely contributions from Lewandowski at the other end. Xavi's tactical innovations – most notably the implementation of a box midfield – gave Barca balance, while a defensive restructure meant that they were hard to play through, even before opposition forwards tried to beat La Liga MVP Marc-Andre ter Stegen in goal.

Getty ImagesHave the levers worked out long-term?

Sceptics claimed, however, that Barca's moves – both on and off the field – were unsustainable. Certainly on-field, a look at Barca's results towards the end of the 2022-23 season as they limped over the finishing line suggested as much, as did the loss of veterans Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba.

Off the pitch, even amateur economists suggested that the Blaugrana had made risky decisions in the summer of 2022. La Liga rules severely limit clubs' spending power, and punish even the most powerful of sides for financial mismanagement. Laporta's 'levers' were a novel thing, but didn't sit too well with the watchful eyes of La Liga president Javier Tebas, who in turn cracked down on the club's ability to pull off similar moves in 2023.

Tebas also refused to accept theoretical payments from Barcelona's investors. In effect, Barca should have seen their wage bill stay the same; instead, La Liga decreased their spending power from €649m to €270m — €450m less than Real Madrid's, and slightly below Atletico Madrid's, too.

And perhaps that was Laporta's biggest miscalculation. The Barca president had a publicly fractious relationship with Tebas, and any assumed goodwill based on what Barca bring to the table from a marketing stand point has disappeared.

Never was that more clear than with the Blaugrana's failed attempt to re-sign Messi. Laporta spent months piecing together a financial package and strategy to impress Tebas and convince him that Barca could afford to sign Messi when his Paris Saint-Germain contract ran out. The details of the deal have not been made public, but the so-called "viability plan" was never signed off on, and in the end, the club couldn't guarantee to Messi that he would be registered. The Argentine swiftly signed for Inter Miami instead.