Barcelona reveal 'major losses' as debt doubles to €488m due to Covid-19 pandemic

ByJames Walker-Roberts

Published 05/10/2020 at 14:27 GMT

Barcelona's debt has doubled to €488m mainly as fans have been unable to attend games due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The club let several first-team players leave in a bid to cut costs, including Arturo Vidal, Arthur Melo, Luis Suarez and Ivan Rakitic, but their financial report says they have suffered 'major losses'.

Barcelona have confirmed huge financial losses for the 2019/20 season due to the Covid-19 pandemic, with debt doubling to €488m.

The La Liga side say they had hoped to hit €1.05bn in revenue, but that was down to €855m as the season was suspended and fans were no longer able to attend matches.

That total is down on the €990m posted by the club for the 2018/19 season.

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In a bid to cut costs, Barca let several first-team players leave, including Arturo Vidal, Arthur Melo, Luis Suarez and Ivan Rakitic. They also asked players to take a temporary wage reduction, which saved €44m.

But they lost €47m in matchday revenue, €35m in sales at club shops and €18m from the museum based at Camp Nou.

“The club suffered financially from the consequences of games being played behind closed doors, as well as the total cancellation of the basketball Euroleague, and hence there was a considerable loss of income,” said the club’s financial report.

Luis Suarez was allowed to leave to join Atletico Madrid

Image credit: Eurosport

“The lack of tourists and visitors to the city of Barcelona due to the reductions and limitations applied to international tourism also meant far fewer visitors to Barca’s premises, meaning major losses in terms of such areas as visitors to the Camp Nou Experience and the sale of products in official stores.”

The report also revealed the club spent 1.68billion euros (£1.5billion) on transfers over the last decade, recouping 944m euros (£858m) for a net spend on signings of 738m euros (£671m) over 10 years.

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