Barcelona 'receive €100m franchise proposal' from Qatar
- Barcelona are facing significant financial problems
- La Liga champions wanted to re-sign Lionel Messi but could not make an offer in time
By Tom Gott
Barcelona are reported to have received an offer worth €100m from a team in Qatar with a view to using La Blaugrana's name as part of their franchise.
The champions of La Liga's financial woes are no secret, forcing Barcelona to prioritise free transfers and ultimately contributing to their failure to present an offer to Lionel Messi, who admitted he did not want to wait around for a proposal which may or may not have come.
Club president Joan Laporta was recently spotted in Qatar and, according to Tot Costa, his visit could have concerned a potential franchise partnership.
The report states that an unnamed Qatari side have offered Barcelona a cool €100m in exchange for the rights to use the Blaugrana's name as part of their own.
Just whether this offer will be accepted is unclear but the potential benefits for Barcelona, who are still working to lower their wages to fall under La Liga's salary cap.
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The report comes just days after economic vice-president Eduard Romeu suggested, via COPE, that the club have not yet managed to reduce their structural debt, which sits at a whopping €1.35bn.
Barcelona are said to need the 'extraordinary income' that will be generated by the modernised Camp Nou before they can make a dent in that debt, which has been 'restructured for up to ten years'.
However, the financial outlook has improved over the past few years as Barcelona expect to pay out €528m in salaries over the coming financial year, down from the €708m inherited by Laporta when he returned as president in 2021.
That figure includes every player currently on the books at Barcelona and stands to reduce in the coming weeks if they succeed in selling some of the fringe figures, including Clement Lenglet, Samuel Umtiti and Sergino Dest.
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