Even though Barcelona are in a slightly better situation than a few months ago – mainly because Xavi Hernandez quickly turned the team around – the club is still facing the consequences of itsterriblefinancial decisions in previous years.
Before Joan Laporta‘s board took over, the club wasted millions in players that didn’t perform as expected anddidn’t recoup the money invested in them either. To make things worse, the pandemic outbreak also took itstoll on the Cules’ finances.
Despite their situation has improvedcompared to last year, when they even had to let Lionel Messi leave because of the La Liga salary rules, Laporta made clear that Barcelona would neverbreak the bank, not even for Kylian Mbappe.
Joan Laporta says Barcelonawould not sign players like Kylian Mbappe even if they could afford them
In an interview with Catalunya Radio, Laporta addressed a number of topics, including Robert Lewandowski and the upcoming summer transfer window. While Barca fans are excited to see which players could join the club, the presidentgave a frank reminder of their financial situation.
“There are signings that we wouldn’t make even if we had the money, because it would distortthe salary cap and we cannotlet that happen again,” Laporta said, via Mundo Deportivo in Spanish. “We cannot exceed acertain level of expenses. If Mbappe wants €50 million net, we could notpay it.“
€50 million per season is certainly much more thanBarcelona can pay for just a single player. However, it doesn’t look like Mbappe seems interested in joining the Catalans either.
The Frenchman is in the prime of his career and, at 23, he is poised to be the biggest superstar in world soccer for the years to come. Besides, Mbappe is expected to join lifelong rivals Real Madrid at the end of the season.