FC Barcelona Are Preparing A $710 Million Cash Injection Package To Sign Erling Haaland

FC Barcelona are still around $1.5bn in debt. But these are the best times the club has lived in the past two years since the start of the pandemic in terms of their financial health and aspirations.

As the first team has been revitalized under Xavi Hernandez, the Blaugrana can once again dream of big-name reinforcements such as Erling Haaland. Reports on Tuesday said the Borussia Dortmund striker wants to sign for the club which has “seduced” him following a meeting with the head coach last week in Munich.

“Haaland has been seduced by Barca’s game, [and] by the club’s project, which is committed to a young team,” Sport wrote, adding that Haaland thinks the squad has a future and is very competitive, with the chance to be trained by Xavi also a decisive factor.

Barca will of course need to find the funds for the coup however, which outlets in Spain put between €250mn ($273mn) and €310mn ($341mn) including the €75mn release clause ($82mn) to free him from his Dortmund contract and €40mn ($44mn) in commissions to Haaland’s agent Mino Raiola and Haaland’s father Alf-Inge before the youngster is offered a five-year deal.

According to MARCA, then, president Joan Laporta is trying to bring in €650mn ($709.5mn) to get the deal over the line with change.

The first chunk of this amount is worth €300mn ($328mn) and comes from the CVC loan tied to television rights that Laporta refused to accept when it could have helped offer Lionel Messi a new contract and prevent the club’s greatest player of all time from walking to Paris Saint Germain as a free agent.

Whereas before Barca were hesitant to accept the loan as more debt, it can reportedly be accounted for as income and directors at other clubs around Spain have asked Laporta to enter into the pact since CVC is primarily interested in the TV rights of Barca and Real Madrid, who have likewise opted not to cave in until now.

Speaking of television and media, the Catalans can receive another €350mn ($382.5mn) by selling 49% of its Barca Studios. Barca are currently mulling over whether they should just sell 30% and want a repurchase option too. But in addition to freeing up the funds for Haaland, these two deals would also allow the salary cap to be increased by €75 million ($82mn).