FC Barcelona Close To Agreeing $200 Million Deal To Make New Signings

FC Barcelona are on the verge of signing a new deal that would pay the club in excess of $200mn, according to reports.

2Playbook say on Friday that the club is close to selling 49% of Barca Licensing & Merchandising (BLM), which is its retail company, to a consortium headed by Fanatics and Investindustrial.

The agreement would pay the cash-strapped Catalans, currently in around $1.5bn’s worth of debt, a much-needed fee of €200mn ($208mn).

But any arrangement must first be ratified by the club’s members in a special assembly, as the last one only saw the approval of financing for the Espai Barca project that entails the construction of the club’s new stadium.

It was previously believed that Barca would sell close to half of Barca Studios to a prospective buyer in order to alleviate their financial woes and not have to accept the CVC deal from La Liga which Real Madrid have also been reluctant to sign up to as it would kill off the European Super League that the two Spanish giants and Juventus still back.

Mundo Deportivo highlight how previous president Josep Bartomeu mentioned the companies involved in the deal in an open letter published last year but in relation to a potential takeover of Barca Corporate instead.

To 2Playbook, a source says that the offer for BLM is “somewhat less than what they initially offered within the framework of Barça Corporate”.

“But the situation has changed a lot in a year”, it is added, with past numbers based on still having Lionel Messi in the squad.

Messi left as a free agent to Paris Saint Germain last summer when Barca failed to navigate a strict La Liga salary cap and offer him a new contract.

Yet with the funds from selling a considerable stake in BLM, Barca could free up funds needed in the next transfer window to land reinforcements in the full-back positions and up front where Robert Lewandowski is most fancied after an approach for Erling Haaland fell apart.

With this money, Barca may also not be forced to sell Frenkie de Jong to Manchester United or the highest bidder either.