Barcelona Departures
Barcelona now had to sell players who had overstayed their welcome or were earning too much relative to their value to the team. With the likes of Junior Firpo, Jean-Clair Todibo, Carles Aleñá, Rey Manaj, Juan Miranda, Monchu, Matheus Fernandes, Rey Manaj, and Miralem Pjanic having been let go by the club while also making some money from a few of those sales.
Ilaix Moriba has also been sold for €16 million to RB Leipzig. Moriba just had one year remaining on his contract and refused a renewal, instead of letting him go on a free next summer, Barcelona made the smart decision of cashing in on him this summer.
Another positive in this transfer window for Barcelona has been the departure of Antoine Griezmann to Atletico Madrid, who was earning around £345,000 per week at the Camp Nou. Rumors suggest that the deal is a season-long loan move with a mandatory €40 million option to buy, bringing an end to one of the most senseless and costly transfers in football history.
An exit from Barca is perhaps less than a surprise, given the Blaugrana’s noted financial issues off the field, a problem that has seen the club attempt to cut costs and this move is an example of that.
All these transfers have helped Barcelona, even if they didn’t yield much transfer fee, it is the significant amount of wages that has been reduced from the wage bill which should be seen as a positive. This isn’t an indication that Barcelona are becoming a selling club, rather they are making amends for all the atrocious transfer business that they had previously carried out.
In 2020, Barcelona finished top of the Deloitte Money Football League with a record-breaking annual revenue of €840.1 million and if Laporta’s reign continues on this positive trajectory, it won’t be long before we see the Catalan club back at the top, be it on the field or off it.