Laporta on Barca’s finances: ‘This is worse than I expected’

It has been 100 days since Joan Laporta took office as Barcelona president, and he still doesn’t have a full picture of the club’s finances. The Catalonians are in serious trouble and Laporta’s main task is to resolve financial problems, while also trying to be as competitive as possible, and with Barca, it always means win La Liga and be competitive in the Champions League.

Laporta admitted that even he didn’t predicted such a mess when he took over from Josep Maria Bartomeu, and announced that any measures will be considered.

“The club is worse than I expected, and I expected it to be in a difficult situation. There are some contracts that greatly limit us. There are things that will have to be explained and I won't rule out any measures. Everything will be explained, because otherwise we would be accomplices. The same people always appear in the contracts" Laporta said during an interview with La Vanguardia.

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Barcelona have the highest wage bill in the world, which is a big reason for the current situation and Laporta will be fully focused on that part of the clubs finances. 

"We have found ourselves with a squad with out-of-date salaries and we will have to juggle. Existing contracts can be changed or restructured, and then there are drastic measures that we would like not to have to take. Nothing is ruled out for the good of Barcelona. Between salaries and amortizations we have a figure of 650 million, which is more than the club's income. These salaries are out of date" explained Laporta.

One of Laporta's main goals since his arrival has been to sign Lionel Messi to another deals, as his current one expires in 10 days. 

"I would like Messi to say yes as soon as possible, it would help us in every way. We are in communication, day in and day out. He's excited and I'm grateful for the desire he's showing to stay. What we want is for him to sign, hopefully for two years, that we win the Champions League next year and everything that lies ahead” said Laporta.

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Barca’s president also has to sign new players, carefully calculating the financial cost of such moves, and he announced that apart from four new faces, there will be 3 or 4 new additions to the squad.

“We are going to make a very competitive team. We are already seeing it with the additions of Eric Garcia, Aguero and Emerson, and other players who are about to come. How many more? 3 or 4 more” announced Laporta.