Joan Laporta confirms how much salary Barcelona plan to cut in 2023
By Tom Gott
Barcelona president Joan Laporta has admitted the club are planning to offload another €70m in wages in the summer transfer window.
The Blaugrana's financial struggled are well-documented, with their high wages seeing them fall foul of La Liga's salary cap rules on a number of occasions in the past.
They were blocked from making any permanent signings during the January transfer window and face a battle to free up enough money to put their ambitious plans into action once the end of the season arrives.
"It is difficult for us to register players due to the salary limit and the regulations," Laporta admitted. "La Liga sets limits based on clubs' accounts, and in the case of Barcelona, we inherited a limit exceeded by millions and millions.
"There are contracts that were increased, it was exceeded by between €300m and €350m. A titanic effort has been made. As of today, we have reduced it by €100m and we hope to reach €175m in the summer, while also keeping a competitive team. The levers helped that.
"As we continue with a salary that exceeds the limit, it costs the club and La Liga sets more restrictive regulations. With these regulations and the levers, we have registered players with a titanic effort, but La Liga has been changing the regulations so that we cannot do these operations. Every time we overcome an obstacle, La Liga changes the norm for us."
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Just how Barcelona will trim that salary is unclear. In terms of expiring contracts, Sergi Roberto is reported to be close to signing an extension, while a decision must be made on veteran midfielder Sergio Busquets.
Selling players is an obvious option for Barcelona, whose squad is full of talents being eyed up by teams across Europe.
Manchester United are keen on midfielder Frenkie de Jong and have been linked with winger Ansu Fati as well, while the likes of Eric Garcia, Jordi Alba, Franck Kessie, Ferran Torres and Raphinha have all been touted as potential sales.