Barcelona's Debt Crisis Threatens to Turn Club into a Private Company

Former Barcelona Director Jaume Llopis has poured oil on fears that the club may end up out of the hands of their members, declaring that it is already on the way to being a private company.

Ex-Presidential candidate Victor Font gave a press conference on Thursday, claiming that financially, Barcelona are worse off under Joan Laporta than Josep Maria Bartomeu. The risk is that if things get so bad, Barcelona may have to sell the club in order to cover or reduce their debts.

Llopis told RadioMarca that the process was already underway.

“It is already a SAD, some assets where there are companies and financial partners have been sold.”

Referring more specifically to Font’s words, Llopis agreed with him.

“He has confirmed that Barca now has less money than with Bartomeu; less income, more expenses and less patrimony. It’s already in part a Public Limited Company.”

“It’s impossible to repay, it will have to be refinanced,” he said of an alleged €3b debt that the club were taking on with the Espai Barca project. It will see both Camp Nou and the surrounding area reformed.

While work is going on at Camp Nou, Barcelona will move to the old Olympic stadium, the Estadi Lluis Companys for around 15 months if projections are met. Llopis, who used to lead the Espai Barca commission before resigning from the board in august of 2021, claimed the costs did not add up there either.

“It is obsolete and it will be a failure. €40m worth of work has to be done to reform a stadium that is more than 30 years old.”

Certainly there seems to be an endless line of credit for Barcelona, but as the numbers pile up, the current board seem to have little concern for the cost. Laporta has continually insisted that Barcelona will never become a private company under his watch.