FC Barcelona Can Activate $265 Million ‘Super’ Economic Lever To Make New Summer Signings

FC Barcelona can raise €250 million ($265 million) to alleviate their financial woes and make new signings this summer if they activate a ‘super’ economic lever currently being prepared, reports say.

President Joan Laporta famously coined the term ‘economic lever’ ahead of last season, when he pulled off operations such as selling future percentages of television rights income to investment firms including Sixth Street.

This helped Barca spend €158 million ($167 million) on fresh acquisitions such as Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and Jules Kounde, who have had much to do with Barca being on the cusp of their first La Liga title in four years while leading bitter rivals Real Madrid by nine points at the summit.

Approaching 2023/2024, though, the Spanish top flight’s president Javier Tebas has warned Barca that they must shave €200 million ($211.5 million) from the wage bill. But according to AS, the Catalans can tick this box off by selling 49% of Barca Licensing & Merchandising (BLM).

A potential sale of this ilk was reported on last summer, when a consortium headed by Fanatics and Investindustrial was said to be on the verge of buying the stake for €200 million ($211.5 million).

This never came to pass, however, even though members voted in favor of selling almost half of the merchandising arm at an extraordinary assembly in June 2022.

A year on, however, Barca are still in a financial quandary with the league and also want to make new signings such as landing Brazilian teen sensation Vitor Roque from Athletico Paranaense.

Tebas has publicly told the Blaugrana they can forget about bringing in reinforcements as things stand. “We have not let Barcelona sign players this winter, and next summer they will not be able to sign players,” he stated at a London event last week.

“With the famous levers, the club has made levers last summer for 5% of its turnover. But at other clubs, that could be a problem. We have acted and self-regulated quickly. No one can make levers that represent 5% of the turnover,” Tebas added.