How Can Debt-Ridden Barcelona Spend So Much?

Despite posting record breaking losses of €555 million in 2021, having more than €1.3 billion of debt, and having been hit with numerous sanctions by La Liga, Barcelona have still spent more than €150 million this summer on the likes of Raphinha, Robert Lewandowski, and Jules Koundé.
Barca’s spending has left a lot of football fans bemused at how a club so riddled with debt, and seeming on the verge of going bankrupt just a few months ago, has been able to spend so much.
So in this video, HITC Sevens takes a look at the financial difficulties at Barcelona, the economic levers the club has activated to combat them, and what it all means for the future of the five-time Champions League winners.

[@DHW3008]

Really disappointed that my team (Grimsby Town) spent nothing, when we have roughly €1.3b more than Barcelona have.

[@FruitsaladOSRS]

There's always the next transfer window, probably just saving themselves for that

[@hnz5404]

@@FruitsaladOSRS exactly, who wouldn't want to play for.. um.. play for... What he said.

[@SHRD]

Lol Barca is just barca and Barca had to also sacrifice so much they activated 4 economical levers so kinda not a thing some not so famous teams can pull off

[@tusaadrian7422]

@@SHRD Those “levers” will bite them in the ass in the long run

[@ryanh2479]

Underrated comment.

[@ianmacfarlane1241]

Missed a few chances to say that it "all got a bit Messi".

[@stevelowe2647]

Giggle. That's a good one

[@itsytyt5192]

כג

[@NazriB]

Lies again? MLS Student Debt

[@KiltedCritic]

Shocking state of affairs that not only they've been allowed to keep trading while insolvent. Also trying to shame players into taking wage cuts "to help" while they on the other hand, splash out hundreds of millions on new signings at the same time.

[@batuwa4254]

There is not such words as allowed in laliga in laliga there is a strict rules and barca literally did all of their business within a laliga’s rules so no one allowed them and as far salary and pay cuts concern they’re not anybody no one can pressure players if they did players can complain and suu club and if the report are right those contract which sign during the pandemic time those are particularly isn’t so legal so if they won that case player who receive money based on that contract those could be forced to pay back so they’re politely asking players to find a solution so and salary cap and spending are two different things so chill and to put things in perspective Real Madrid has sold their some percentage of their future income ( tedium income not tickets sells ) (more percentage of our future income) nobody talk about because they have sold it while ago and media knows if they mention barca they’ll get more enhancements coz barca is the club who got the highest number on engagement on social media so

[@od9694]

wa running slander campaigns to try and pressure employees to take a pay cut is just straight up illegal nevermind what la Ligas rules are

[@rahmansimorangkir7077]

if my friend owe me a lot of money, then i found out he just buy a new house and buying new cars.. i will definitely beat the crap out of him..

[@richardfinlayson1524]

No that is ridiculous

[@richardfinlayson1524]

@@batuwa4254 pretty sure salaries and buying players fall under the finances category, and no they shouldn't be spending money on buying players while asking them to take a pay cut, I think Alfie is much more correct

[@lollol9772]

just wanna say that barca have made it past the cl quarter finals since 2015. They got to the semis in 2019

[@LoonaVanza]

Si

[@lsmith6036]

Yes, but these videos are still great, but yes. It was the Liverpool one,

[@ominoserzuschauer6286]

Yes thank you, I thought the same..

[@stevec6232]

I can only conclude football financing is bonkers and no matter how much debt Barca take on it will either be refinanced or written-off in future.

[@acorpuscallosum6947]

You think this only applies to football? Lol

[@Andros2709]

It only happens in some places, and Barcelona is one of those places.

[@alehlete830]

Spanish and Indian barca fans would call this video fake

[@bulthaosen1169]

@@alehlete830 Indian?

[@somethinglikethat2176]

Not really. They seem to be digging that hole a little deeper each time. I doubt Goldmans will be left holding the bag if it all goes tits up.

[@Aaron-ed5xs]

Barca got lucky they were able to pay Messi like 75m a year and he in his prime was still worth at least triple that, so then he produced so much excess value they dumped all that money on all the other players, and now with Messi gone they have a dozen highly overpaid and old players without Messi to carry them to the UCL semis every year. They never learned how to actually manage a club because they lucked into Messi

[@Elbasilius]

Messi's departure was a ticking time bomb. Sooner or later they had to find a strategy around him leaving since he generated so much. Times are desperate but it currently looks much better than a year ago

[@MalleusIudaeorum]

I agree but they hardly “lucked” into Messi. They created him with a little help from a heavy PED regiment.

[@mrwabbit9576]

Im not convinced any player is worth that. You could probably put together a top CL team for that kind of money if they had a smart manager.

[@ellemarr7234]

@@MalleusIudaeorum Understanding the science behind Messi’s condition might be helpful. Reading headlines but not the articles, will get you only so far 😉

[@MalleusIudaeorum]

@@ellemarr7234 I understand perfectly well that he has been on human growth hormones almost his whole career and why but the why is irrelevant.

[@fanvonallemoeglichen]

Remember when Barcelona could have fielded a Champions League quality team only with players from their youth ranks? They basically threw their future in the bin because they tried to become the Galacticos instead.

[@Leonessi10]

We only bought two backups and 2/3 starters, filling in the gaps with competent players isn't exactly building a Galactico team. We still have young players in fati, pedri, gavi, Araujo, balde, ferran and torre, and acouple of others who extended their contracts before leaving out on loan, so I don't see any problem here mate.

[@fanvonallemoeglichen]

@@Leonessi10 I am not only talking about this transfer window, but yeah, slightly exaggerated of course. Still, if you don't see a problem then I don't really know what to tell you. Hope this works out for Barcelona, I actually like the club.

[@Leonessi10]

@@fanvonallemoeglichen Yeah we generally screwed ourselves in previous transfer windows, but I really think we're just pluging in the holes this time, no to mention our sustainable wage bill. Although I would've loved to see more youngsters from la masia in our xi, the unpredictability of our performances will be concerning to an extent, we might end up in the europa league again. But there's no telling what the future will hold.

[@Micfri300]

@@Leonessi10 winning the europa league is worth more than reaching the round of 16 in the champions league actually.

[@truealpha7258]

@@Micfri300 yeah fk off epl fan

[@nert-13]

Barça have reached beyond the quarterfinals in the UCL since 2015. "Corner taken quickly" was the 2019 UCL semifinal vs Liverpool

[@sahibbajunior1343]

Yess..after 14 years of waiting to added their 6th UCL titles..lol

[@trollinape2697]

@@sahibbajunior1343 *4th

[@harshvardhanparmar2000]

Only after Alfie proposed the middle ground did I finally realize how far Barcelona has fallen from their ideals. I would love for us to win the UCL or LaLiga don't get me wrong, but I would love it even more if Xavi took the remarkable young group of players we have and moulded them into a better team. We might not win trophies, but if we played attractive football while showing signs of improvement and signed some cheaper younger players and got rid of our debt little by little, I would whole heartedly support the club.

[@younusbendame742]

Yeah they’re trying the chelsea 2004 approach rn but I think it will backfire horribly

[@akashm8358]

That's where you are wrong, if barca can't gather attention and excitement around them then they can't generate revenue, if you can't generate enough revenue then laliga lower your wage cap even more, and do you think, pedri, Gavi all these guys will be here for the next 10 yrs with below par salary than in other European clubs and not fighting for titles for the next 10 yrs like man United. United are about to offer a contract renewal to an average player like rashford because PSG are trying to get them and that is so stupid to keep that guy, but atleast they have the money to do it, at Barca there isn't a billionaire owner to pump money in even if the club isn't doing well, If we can't create excitement around the team and we don't play dominating attacking, attractive football and win games then you can't even full a quarter of the seats in campnou because the Barca fans expect the team to play attractive football and win, that's why under koeman during his last month's we had such low amount of fans at the campnou and if can't fill the biggest stadium in Europe then we can't make money as well. So this trusting the youngsters plan would have gone to shit in 2 years if the team isn't competing and we will become like united. Rightnnow pedri Gavi and all these youngsters are not only learning and developing their own game but they are learning how to win as well with the help of Lewandowski etc..And like I said, if we don't compete and we don't fill the stadium, we don't make money, we don't have a billionaire owner to pump in money even if we don't generate as a club itslef like the English clubs

[@luiscordero1072]

@@akashm8358 most based comment I have seen on this comment section

[@harshvardhanparmar2000]

@@akashm8358 Barca can generate revenue, it's a massive club. I think that with a smart scouting team and sporting director, we could be spending less money while keeping the team competitive. We saw that Xavi came in halfway through the season and at one point we could've caught up to madrid. I'm not saying that we shouldn't sign anyone, but instead of Lewandowski or raphinha, we could've gone for a left back, a right back and maybe Kounde could've been our big signing. We could've spend close to 75 million instead of 150.

[@MrVinjex]

@@harshvardhanparmar2000 take the example of Liverpool and Arsenal. Or just the example of United that he used, generating money for such big clubs isn't difficult and it doesn't take many accolades to get the fans back on board. However this focus on youth whilst paying back the debt is what Arsenal did with Wenger after building the stadium. They're still feeling those effects but I guess Arsenal didn't have the same level of pull Barcelona does and perhaps have a better core of young players. So even the middle ground is risky but even as a Madridista, I don't like the situation Barcelona's in. Barcelona have been the team with the largest revenue in Spain for the past 5 seasons or more and their downfall means the downfall of the league. I would love for Barcelona to take a break and allow us to 3peat the league for the first time in 40 years though

[@Maximus7th]

Long story short, thanks to Bartomeu basically sabotaging the club and running it into the ground, we now have to sell a huge share of our future profits to be able to buy and register players. As a Barça fan I honestly think we're going too far with sacrificing long-term stability for short-term success, but we'll have to wait and see what happens this season.

[@jakecollin5499]

Id actually follow Barca this year if they were in a situation where they have to win it all or go bust

[@ayylmao2569]

There's potential illegality in your sale of rights if rumours are to believe. (500 mil pound sale deal was meant to only be 400 mil till barca paid another 100 mil in the deal thru a front company to make the books appear as they got 500 mil profit). This would be illegal because it's an act of market manipulation to make trading with Barca more worthwhile due to having a lagrer source of income, it's fudging up the books by magically adding 100 million to their pot to spend... and it runs the risk of tax evasion since Barca hasn't had 65 mil of that 500 mil investment be paid off in capital gains tax...

[@kfeiglordlolyou5554]

Barca have earned around 700 million from the levers, 143 has gone to transfers, while around 500 has gone to paying off their debt These levers mean Barca wil be forfeiting approximately 5% of their annual revenue for the coming seasons, but the idea is that with the new transfers, they earn more money with a more successful team

[@CrimsonKobaNakirigumi]

If they don't win LaLiga and the UCL in a three years span, the club situation will get really bad.

[@yanndylan2239]

Its not really a huge share though, like yeah it's risky and it's not great having to sell assets. But the total assets we sold account to less than 10%, wouldn't say that's a huge share of our future

[@Alex-xn2pj]

Day 18: A detailed look at the state of Crotone would be nice, going from Serie A in 20/21 with a 20 goal a season striker (Simy) to Serie C by 22/23. Two relegations in a row, something surely has to be wrong at that club.

[@johnstevens8590]

That’s a regular occurrence in Italy

[@wussup12345]

Dude it’s not a big deal. Sunderland did the same thing and they’re a much bigger club. It just happens sometimes

[@SC-bc6tz]

@@wussup12345 that was due to mass mismanagement though, however the reasons behind any clubs fall from the mountain top in comparison to their climb is always very interesting in my opinion

[@ilremorto4387]

Crotone aren't Serie A regulars, so I'm not sure how this is surprising or worth a video. It's harder to stay in Serie A once you've been down a while than to go back down. Palermo going to be one of the few exceptions because of their oil money. I welcome them back to Serie A once they make it back.

[@chinortega3]

Why don't you make the Crotone video then since your so pressed lol

[@constablekennedy7705]

They were handed a Lifeline by their Spotify Deal but that still doesn’t explain their Extravagant Spending and they are Subsequently having Issues Registering their Newly Acquired Players …. ⚽️

[@rohannalawade3227]

Economic levers mate. Plus the issue isnt money at hand as much as it is wage cap. Old contracts are bloated to new, more reasonable contracts are also facing issues. La liga wage cap is more stringent as it seems as other clubs like Betis are also facing similar issues.

[@issamasghar5203]

all of prem teams would have trouble registering players other than wolves if they had as strict rule as laliga

[@colinjensen3301]

They’ve just registered their players though

[@yourdadhasadogfilter2505]

@@rohannalawade3227 Where did this term "economic levers" even come from? It was never a thing but we've all just gone with it

[@JohanCruyff-the-Dutch-GOAT]

Did you not watch the video???

[@SC-bc6tz]

Cheers for making this video Alfie, seen loads of people ask you about this, great to see you’re still the peoples channel. Fantastic doc as usual

[@bobwalters3747]

Love the content. It rarely makes me laugh, but "paying their players with frubes" (plus the picture) was too much this morning lol

[@BALHAM69]

a documentary on the afc Wimbledon on the nine promotions in eleven years, how they’re a fan own club and how they have a stadium in plough lane now. The story of they lost the club, how the F A allowed that and won’t allow that anymore. How they were very close to moving to ireland How they went up the English football leagues. It would be a good documentary video if you can do this. #thepeopleschannel

[@kwhufc5769]

That's a good shout.

[@BALHAM69]

@@kwhufc5769 even though West Ham Lost Last match, good that finally signed a back up striker and yes hopefully Alfie can do this if he likes. Talk about their story, the planning process it took for their stadium and how they are fan owned

[@AndyisAverage]

Best player to retire at every age

[@donnyjepp]

Great idea 👍

[@animevsirl]

Alfie and Tifo hard carrying Barcelona fans trying to explain their own club financial situation

[@angel657]

With this saga, i have come to the realization that most people especially those so called sports pundits don't know jack shit about how la liga and most clubs like barcelona are run.... and the funny thing to is that it's not even hard to know all these things, you can just go to the official websites and you would see all this. FC Barcelona like Real Madrid and Atletico Bilboa is a fan owned club, that means they don't have some billionaire somewhere we can just pump money into the club, they vote on who can be president to lead the club. That means they need avenues and assets to generate money to fund the club and when they are going through financial troubles they liquidate some of these assets or invest with some of them. FC Barcelona has a restaurant/cafe called barca cafe, a skating rink, museum, sports center and other assets. The club is a brand and a big institution which has a basketball, futsal, rollerskate hockey, ice hockey, field hockey, handbol, rugby team and some other sports team. The Barca academy even produces players for all these sports. the Barca studio which they have sold some shares off to help the footballing side was created not too long ago around 2017, 2018 i think with 4 million as startup.... it wasn't generating a lot of revenue as the other asset so even Bartomeu wanted to sell the whole thing for 50 million when this whole pandemic and financial mess begun, so selling those 25% shares now is seen as an investment to generate more funds from the studio and even after some time Barca gets back those shares. I'm not saying selling those shares is good or bad... people need to look at the big picture. Barca is even about to build the Espai Barca which has office spaces, hotels and restaurants just so they can generate more funds for the club. La Liga has it's rules which all clubs must obey whether big or small, at the end or beginning of each season la liga looks at your revenue and tells you how much you can spend on wages, how much you can spend on buying players, how much you can spend in general, they give a ratio. If your wage bill is higher than the ratio they gave you, you have to sell players players to free the wage bill. That is why the new board of Barcelona has established a new wage structure where nobody earns more than 10 million or so (base salary) but your wage can increase with performance related bonuses

[@Leonessi10]

I see that you're well educated.

[@truealpha7258]

Great answer man. Still these EPL mopheads won't understand

[@angel657]

@@Leonessi10 thanks but it's not even that hard to learn about all these things, some people are just trying to be dishonest and trivialise everything just for clicks and likes... some don't even know that Barça's debt has reduced and has been restructured. And to those who keep saying Barça has no money are very funny 😄.... they may not have money like they use to but they do have money

[@protik_d]

Great reply mate. Funny thing is you'll find many "Pundits" in the comment section who find it fishy or strange that Barca spending money and Barca needs to be "Investigated". These are very simple facts. I'm selling my own assets to gather some funds to reinforce my team. What more funny is Barca selling which is not even 5% of its total asset, where as these pundits sold thier ENTIRE club is to a billionaire. You can easily guess who these pundits are.

[@kvineet631]

Every Barca fan these days has become an economic expert on loans, shares, selling assets, pulling levers, paying wages and what not😆

[@MrCr1spy1]

This is gonna be great. Thanks, Alfie

[@lewisluck1006]

Great video. So detailed yet so easy to understand for someone who hasn’t kept up with all the details!

[@caflorero]

Okay I'm convinced half of the people in this comments didn't even watch the entire video and still don't know exaclty what the situation at the club is...

[@DavidMayOnline]

Your absolutely correct, its quite shocking isn't it. I think its the fluoride in the water.

[@txeazy]

Literally 😭😭they don’t know what they’re talking about

[@unstoppableExodia]

Barca fan since 2002 here, don’t let us down Alfredo with this explainer video. Am a little disappointed that Alfredo didn’t mention Barca are establishing a wage structure where nobody earns more than 10 million (base salary) with performance related bonuses. A stark comparison to the previous administration who thought nothing of handing out contracts of 20 million or much more on long contracts. And they have been trying to sell De Jong this season with youth talent from Barca B being given more of a chance in the first team than the previous administration. From what I’ve observed Barca are returning to their previous values of signing players that bring something they don’t already have from their own reserves. A really clear example of bartomeu’s misguided transfer policy is his pursuit of Philippe Coutinho. Even before Dembele had been signed to replace neymar Coutinho was the player bartomeu desperately wanted at all costs. Dembele’s first injury gave him license to pursue Coutinho in January. Something about that situation that had gone under the radar is that within the squad Barca already had a player that had demonstrated capability of covering for Dembele - Denis Suarez. A player who had put in some very impressive performances early in the 17/18 season that to a casual observer put in a strong claim for continued first team involvement. However he was dropped without explanation and essentially frozen out of the first team for no obvious reason. At the time there was talk of selling him for 30 million euros to a premier league team and it seems clear to me bartomeu hoped to flip him for a profit to fund a move for his preferred target in Coutinho. Suarez didn’t move, determined to fight for his place and the lack of game time caused his confidence and transfer value to drop. After his underwhelming loan spell at arsenal I’m sure premier league fans have no clue that he was at one stage very highly rated and was a very exciting prospect. I’m of the opinion that Denis Suarez along with other similar players could have contributed much more if given more opportunities and he could have have eliminated the need to sign Coutinho entirely. Denis Suarez was a lot more comfortable playing on the wing or as an interior while Coutinho wasn’t particularly great at either role. The role he did excel at was one that didn’t really exist in a 4 3 3 formation and Barca always labored in attack in the biggest games with Coutinho played at LW. Bartomeu’s insistence on paying over a hundred million for star power rather than a player that has the qualities needed for the role they need to fill (in this case as a winger) has always been baffling. He signed Malcom who is a proper winger and then proceeded to not play him even when it was clear Coutinho wasn’t working out as a winger.

[@kieronparr3403]

Who did you support in 2001?

[@unstoppableExodia]

@@kieronparr3403 nobody, the 2002 World Cup got me interested in football

[@milosilic23]

where did you find that wage structure info? I havent seen any talk about it, maybe ive missed it. To be honest, it would make sense, they were giving MASSIVE contracts to below average players... Also i cant really agree with you. This window they bought players on positions they already had (Raphina) or overpayed for old players (Lewandovski, i dont care how good he is, he is 34 god damn it). They needed CBs and they got that but they went about shopping like tomorrow doesn't exist. As for the youth... La Masia is in shambles, and bringing it back to its former glory days will take time. i cant see any massive talents coming out of it to the first team in the near future

[@mike.n.n.7723]

@Aquatic I love and hate how Barca fans have made it seem like Pedri came from La Masia when they signed him from Las Palmas straight into the first team Even Araujo was signed from Boston River when he was 18 so he's hardly a La Masia graduate

[@ordinaryguy8553]

Wow that's a lot of words

[@DolfoLicks]

I see all this and all I can say is "why the f*** did Messi leave for?"

[@LVX_]

Alfie, I just had an idea atching this which is a great video btw. But, when I saw how much revenue MNU made last year, it made me think about their current finances and what the Glazers have done by taking money out the club. I would be interested to see if they could have paid off their debt sooner through revenue and player sales etc. Maybe something to whirl around the noggin to explore further. :)

[@seandelap8587]

I requested this the other day thanks for talking about it because it really does need to be discussed there's certainly something strange going on with Barcelona.

[@migscapo]

Just because you can't wrap your head around it doesnt make it strange.

[@minabotieso6944]

Barcelona a few months ago did a big hours long live stream where they approved selling future earnings and parts of the club to free up a bunch of money. They just did more. It’s risky

[@Asshat237]

The players they bought are all quality. This was much better spending than under Bartomeo

[@kidcudi908]

Most definitely, they are instant contenders

[@FuriousLing]

Thank you for the content, comrade.

[@loqueteniaquedecir]

Awesome video as always Alfie, but La Liga TV deal was rejected but Athletic Club (Bilbao), not Atlético Madrid

[@StuFlyboyReay]

Spend their way out of debt??? What could go wrong

[@gabsnandes7818]

That's my feeling as well, for me at least, they are a guy going all in poker to get back to where they were

[@shawnmason5551]

What could go right? Relegation I hope.

[@BLOODSHO7]

Leeds utd 2.0 just without big Pete Ridsdale

[@shivenmayani1806]

It’s the lesser of two evils, either we spend nothing and lose or spend money and pray that it works out

[@callum5252]

Top level video as always Alfie

[@aarontomaselli590]

Amazing video mate love your work

[@jaimeiniguez6204]

Watching this from California at 2am great work 👍

[@duwaynem.467]

Good video.. however Chelsea do not have any debt. Hence you can see the spending.. Roman scrapped the debt with the sale of the club.

[@linsithebe7080]

Thank you for your efforts comrade

[@tadiwanashemkonto4124]

Great video May you please make or consider making a video in future on how and why football players' primes come later and later, and why they retire much later than as before. As we've seen older players, whom we would normally consider to be at the tail end of their career, almost have a second prime or have such great longevity as never seen before.

[@SilliusSodus]

More players are more dedicated to outright athleticism in the Prem and English Championship. Plus fixture congestion means that if they want to not be an anchor on the team later in their years through recovery time, they have to stay fit. Also players such as Ronaldo and Thiago Silva being almost world class well into their thirties seems to be inspiring new players. Also sports science.

[@pKerViKNG]

the game is evolving, the way players take care of themselves is evolving also. Luka Modric prime example.

[@BootlegSonicToy]

Every answer above and also doping

[@p4rad0x]

advancements in physical therapy, conditioning and injury treatment, as well as a more competitive market. more money in football means a bigger pool of players willing to dedicate themselves to a higher degree in physical fitness that and doping

[@thomashopper8616]

Great video. I noticed Hull City is tied for first for the evening.

[@martinmcwilliams]

Thanks Alfie I almost choked to death at the paid with Frubes line. I was having a drink when you said it.

[@alexnowis2468]

Fantastic video, I can only imagine the research you had to put into this, thank you. Regarding Barcelona..... What a s**t show, I really hope the pack of cards come crashing down, because it would fabulous to watch, but devastating from sporting historical sense.

[@EduardoGrassoTV]

The two sides of football when you are not playing the premier league or are called PSG. You either go all in as Barcelona or go sustainable as AC Milan

[@eddieblack3767]

Sustainable as ac Milan? Mate they were one of the worst run club for almost a decade

[@CaptainPriceAndGaz06]

@@eddieblack3767 people forget that even tho milan is finding success now they’re still in a bad spot financially because of how bad former ownership was.

[@francescopirani2665]

As a Milan fan, yes they WERE run poorly to say the least but they have increased their revenue and value and have almost completely payed out their debt despite COVID, thanks to smart investing and not overspending. AC is definitely sustainable now, even though we're still a long way from challenging the best teams in Europe

[@francescopirani2665]

As a Milan fan, yes they WERE run poorly to say the least but they have increased their revenue and value and have almost completely payed out their debt despite COVID, thanks to smart investing and not overspending. AC is definitely sustainable now, even though we're still a long way from challenging the best teams in Europe

[@EduardoGrassoTV]

@@eddieblack3767 I'm talking 2022, we are going sustainable

[@brierestjean1977]

Well done, but you forgot to mention the new deal with sportify and others

[@amitbarhum5696]

Great video Alfie! HOWEVER (yes I am very pleased with myself), Bilbao (edited) was the club who rejected cvc and not Atletico iirc. Edit 2: The 150m were not "invented" as the asset is set to be worth 150m more as years go by. No problem in that area.

[@azlankhan4172]

The three clubs were Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Athletic Club (Athletic Bilbao basically, although that is an interesting story itself). He confused Atletico Madrid with Athletic Club.

[@amitbarhum5696]

@@azlankhan4172 oh tnx i confused sevilla with bilbao

[@Support-your-local-team]

21:31 That transition, chef's kiss

[@joemills4603]

21:00 This recalls to mind the Man U situation. You want players at the club who passionately want to be there... not just because the money is good. If you have that, then the players will give you everything.

[@yoshuareynaldo2295]

I agree about your take on taking the risk. Some people actually thinks that Barcelona should 'focus on youth' or whatever. They didn't know Arsenal did this already and the result is Tottenham now have more revenue than they do and the rivalry actually went to Tottenham's favor for the last 5 years or so. This is a a loss-loss situation. It's better if they go down, at least they try to make something happen.

[@israkhk]

Well it's not working well for them now....

[@yoshuareynaldo2295]

​@@israkhk It's really too soon to say that. There is certainly a significant improvement in the team.

[@moisesfernando2516]

What a great video 🅿️❤️

[@lemonheadgaming7141]

Already know this video is gonna be great

[@KaiSaeren]

What genuinely boggles the mind is why players are so eager to join Barca even now, not just because of their struggles but because of their callous and even cruel behavior towards their own players, no respect to them and that makes me just not respect or care for the success of the club. I genuinely wish to see them be taken down a peg, well more than these last few years. Covid wasnt their fault obviously but now they are imo behaving worse than ever and football fans around the world should make them feel it.

[@nikolamitrovic3841]

I want an update episode, just go over anything noteworthy that happened across all clubs you've covered so far.

[@avoidconfusion]

You would have thought that Financial Fair Play was brought in to stop this sort of nonsense, until you remember that FFP was brought in by Clubs like Barcelona to protect them 🙂

[@TheKalaxis]

Video suggestion: The 7 strangest goals of all time. Such as: The beach ball one, the time the ball boy scored in Brazil and the time when the referee scored the winner (Barrow vs Plymouth in 1968)

[@benwaddi]

If the contracts are deemed illegal would that retroactively make the players ineligible for the seasons since they were signed? And if it's Barca themselves bringing it forth the club is admitting the situation. Hard to see how a club could admit they broke the law/rules and benefited from it without some punishment coming their way.

[@TheKZOShow]

Nothing's gonna happen no matter what. UEFA or CAS don' have the balls to take down a giant until it has imploded on its own. This back and forth for no reason and it all making no sense until either Barca gets taken over by a middle eastern oil empire or it caves in on itself and disappears. The last thing will never happen though!

[@p4rad0x]

i hope they're saying this as a pr move and don't actually believe such nonsense will go anywhere. the contracts were signed between barça and the players, it doesn't matter which administration did so; barça as an institution are obligated to fulfill it. they're basically wanting the benefits of a social club (not being straight up insolvent) without any of the downsides

[@user-te1le7ck6b]

UEFA in their pockets

[@shivenmayani1806]

The contracts were handed out by the previous board, it’s pretty common in governments like the United States to basically reverse everything the previous cabinet did, like Trump with Obama, just reversing decisions left right and center, remember Barca is more similar to a government than a premier league football club since we’re fan owned and rely on revenue due to bad boardroom decisions, this is just the current board picking up the pieces, and although I wouldn’t agree with everything Laporta is doing, this is our only option

[@Eagles2020]

@@shivenmayani1806 that’s straight up bullshit. What sports team do you know when back on their contract because a previous administration signed it. They are just trying to wiggle out of their mistake by fucking over their players.

[@cameronhunt3080]

A video looking at the years Bury went bust, Bolton, Macclesfield, Derby and Wigan went into liquidation and where the clubs are since as a timeline from 2014-present. (What's going on in the EFL?)

[@SquirrelSeb84]

No sympathy for Barcelona from here. They did their fair share into creating this unhealthy transfer and wage monstrosities that have been eating at football's core for decades now. If they fall for a disaster they helped create, serves them right.

[@Micfri300]

The premier league having money just because england had a commonwealth empire inflating their tv deal is more unfair tbh.

[@IshanXVI]

Barca doesn't facilitate itself from your sympathy either. And yeah, those ridiculous transfers were the works of the previous board, who also tried to sink down the club by giving fucking insane contract renewals to players just a month before they left. FC Barcelona will be back. Also, it will be a beautiful revival.

[@yorkshirelad346]

@@IshanXVI well said , people were loving it last season , they just can’t stand that Barca are still going . Not sure what the other guy is going on about with the British Empire just pain weird 🤡🤡

[@shivenmayani1806]

Barca is a fan owned club, we have no owner to pump billions into the club, and la liga is run totally differently to the premier league or other leagues because they have a salary cap, so it’s a different situation in which we don’t have another option to get out of since the previous board decided that they were in a race to sink the club as fast as possible. They gave de Jong a £400k a week contract a couple months before they were thrown out… and before last season we had about 10+ players who were earning as much as ronaldo in man utd, the camp nou was left to rot, their plan was to… tbh they had no plan, they were kinda like the Glazers at man utd.

[@Micfri300]

@@shivenmayani1806 bartomleu is a real life KZbin comment section fan.

[@willsaenz6320]

I’m actually not that upset by the levers, since they each have long term financial ramifications, a risk that the club decided was worth it. What IS disgraceful is the coercion of players into taking pay cuts, deferments, or in FDJ’s case, making it public that they want him gone, all while bringing in new players with all this newfound money. Not even legally binding contracts seem to mean anything to them.

[@prometheustv6558]

Well those wage deferments were signed by the players in legaly binding contracts. And that was due to profit loses in COVID.

[@willsaenz6320]

@@prometheustv6558 deferments, not “please leave and pretend we don’t owe you money.”

[@prometheustv6558]

@@willsaenz6320 If he leaves then they don't owe him money anymore since his contract which had those deferred wages will get terminated.

[@willsaenz6320]

@@prometheustv6558 Which is exactly why he should stay and get the money owed to him

[@prometheustv6558]

@@willsaenz6320 And that’s what he will do

[@hclfgaming3743]

Can you do a vid about whats going on with all the signings at Nottingham Forest?

[@raphaelmahgerefteh4960]

@hitcsevens could you do a comparison video between women's and men's football, in the least sexist way possible, looking at the recent attendance figures, money involved and how the clubs are run (is it one owner or is it 2 separate entities etc.). I think it would be an interesting watch!

[@jesuisunstroopwafel]

Alfie, when will you release your documentaries on Turkey's Big Three (Fenerbahçe, Galatasaray, Beşiktaş)? I remember you teased them back in your Süper Lig video.

[@aritzmartinezrodriguez1825]

11:04 The CVC deal wasn't rejected by Atletico de Madrid, but by Athletic Club Bilbao (and Barcelona an Real Madrid, of course).

[@badasstasticusbadass4908]

I think it would be better if they just took the long route and re-build the squad by signing young, but capable players with alot of potential and re-inforce the squad with veterans and players from La Masia as the debts goes down and in a few seasons be back again to a high level. Milan was able to do that and they became the most yougest club in winning the Scudetto in Serie A's history recently. What Barcelona is doing is a VERY high risk and high reward move that if it fails... they will be in an even worst situation than what they are now.

[@timtalley5357]

Can you do a video on how nottingham forest can spend so much money and buy so many players this transfer window? Where are they at with ffp? Im not for or against forest but i do want to know! Love your videos!

[@EGReviews]

An idea for a video... what's going on at Partizan Belgrade... from the mess the management is doing to the kit copyright claims.

[@shadow9134]

Please make a video on the rise and fall of Croatian football.

[@scottcooper6828]

Do a 7 for former ac milan players who are now in politics. I can think of 5 right off the bat

[@mishagelenava2962]

Yeah, you know, having a famous politician as the owner for decades, the players have learnt a thing or two from him. 😁😁

[@charliebilton9163]

Is the answer that LaLiga knows they objectively cannot take action because the loss in revenue would be so bad it would harm basically every other team at the same time? And so they will not put sanctions on transfers or deduct points or anything for fear of a dangerous loss of profits?

[@lukaslillestl-brandlistuen7269]

What actions can laliga do? They got money from selling rights so they can use all their money from transfers on players. Then they have reduced wages and gotten under the really low wage cap in laliga. There is nothing laliga can do. Eveything barcelona has done is legal

[@sp4cem4n70]

You didn't mention the spotify deal. Also, the Bernardo silva price tag is influenced by the players desire to join the catalan club.

[@khanyotshijila4850]

Romero never said 50-60 Mil. He said barca believes they can get it done at that price range. Manchester City will want more than that 80 Million. Barca haven't even talked to Man City yet.

[@jibijbi9179]

Great video Alfie, although you completely butchered Araujo's name

[@swlfifa5973]

hey hitc sevens how are yo hope youre good

[@vuyaninhlanzizibashise892]

The likes of Wenger were labelled as greedy and silly when they hinted that the way to run a football club is through investing in the youth, and patiently develop your players through the ranks….but patience is the keyword !!!! Throwing money you don’t have, to buy the best developed players around the world is crazy! It’s tantamount to buying your success!!!

[@Rishi-nv7bp]

17:25 small correction - Barca made it to semis in 2019 against Liverpool

[@sovietberg9929]

Barcelona is just the club alongside Rm everyone wants to play for. Here in Latin America we don't dream to play for chelsea neither man u. We want to play for the 2 big spanish. Is simple as that.

[@Eruma_27]

W

[@kipzonderkop1994]

So they’re doing exactly what the previous regime did by overspending well outside their means and hoping the players they get will work out instead of looking back and recognising it was their academy that allowed them to spend on failures in previous years.

[@ckay_real2765]

Nah its not like what we did previously

[@Vazo999]

Lol no

[@chinortega3]

Sorry that you brought up a good point but these "fans" aren't old enough to remember how barca used to be run, there's a reason clubs all over the world try to sign la masia players... they should take note of that and idk maybe start developing them so that they don't have to buy the player they already had for well over market value lol

[@keenancerff5359]

I would love to be a fly on the wall to hear how they convince players to join during these crazy times

[@ikerbilbao6064]

Alfie you the man, but the CVC deal was rejected by Athletic not Atlético Madrid.

[@JohnDoe-dn9ez]

They turned down the cvc deal that would have allowed them to keep Messi in order to become spotify fc... More than a team or less than a bussiness?

[@jeffleake1960]

seeing that stadium never fails to amaze me , just the sheer size alone ! but for no reason at all , one of my favourite recent footballing memory's is watching lots of Barca fans crying because a certain young Scouse scally took a corner kick a bit to quickly for their liking , haha oooh happy memory's

[@aa-ok1li]

Is there any chance that Barca are paying their reduced salary players by other means? Especially considering pique's recent falling out with Barca over a 'businesses deal' ?

[@brosephmcbrosephson2626]

An ironic point is that if played, Coutinho would of been one of Barca' best players. He's genuinely a fantastic footballer. Better than Dembele, Griezmann, Braithwaite, Ferran, Malcom, Adama etc.

[@michaelsalovaara567]

It all seems like the Tulip Economy back in the day. As long as belief is there sure, but what are investors buying into? It doesn’t seem it’s football, it’s more like moving money for other purposes like Tulips.

[@mydogiscalledoscar]

I see you there Keith.

[@bricktop.]

I wish I had economic levers and whatever a " virtuous circle is" .

[@RoyMatzem]

Dont you have Credit card? Economic levers are easy to find, what is really hard to find is a bussiness that have a revenue of almost 1bi a year, thats i would wish for

[@dannybartlett4225]

Shocking now 1.86 billion in debt and the world's about to drop into the biggest and longest recession thats been seen loool club will be gone before the end of the season. 17 players haven't even been paid wages

[@clytemnestra]

At least that Spotify sponsorship looks really slick

[@mafiousbj]

This can easily go the "Super Depor" era of Deportivo La Coruña....you bet on continuous success....the year you don´t necessarily fail, but say you don´t qualify for the UCL or win ever a minor trophy....your revenue is cut and you are dead in the water...gradually having to let go good players to get some cash until you find yourself in the relegation zone. At least Barça has unmatched history and political weight, but that shine can get rusty as well if problems persist for a long time

[@tso7639]

@HITC Sevens , they got into the semis in 2018/19

[@NostalgiNorden]

Cool this is only like the 500th video iv'e seen about this subject. I'm an expet now,

[@MrFigi56]

Will you do a video on how Arsenal Football Club can return to the elite of English and European competitions

[@declangaming24]

They can spend by selling TV rights and stock in the club they can't register players as they maxed out there salary cap .

[@aritratalapatra8452]

They have already registered all except Kunde

[@shivenmayani1806]

Remember that just a couple of days ago around 53 players in La Liga were unregistered, it’s a La Liga problem

[@ianmacfarlane1241]

Football clubs don't "take pity" on other football clubs and write off tens of millions of pounds in the process... particularly when they're competing against each other in Europe.

[@BrianStorm742]

Right? This wouldn't be Chelsea cutting Hartlepool some slack or something. This would be actively undermining City's own European dominance. These fans are deluding themselves.

[@user-te1le7ck6b]

Arsenal gave them auba for free

[@reuben524]

They take, you can read how bayern help other teams especially when dortmund their direct rivals were under bankruptcy and also other lower league teams financially,that's why I admire bayern and hope other teams too help lower league teams when they are under trouble

[@ianmacfarlane1241]

@@reuben524 Bayern loaned money (€2m ?) to Borussia Dortmund, which, although generous, was a loan, not the same as writing off tens of millions. The €18m that the big German clubs gave to smaller, struggling German clubs is a different matter, and does show a lot of generosity, but the existence of some of these clubs was at stake. I'm sure that there are instances that go against my OP, however I'd still maintain that what I'd said was broadly true - big clubs tend not to take pity on their rivals, nor do they write off huge amounts of money.

[@berkancelik4783]

Could you please make a video on the match fixing scandal season 2010/11 in turkey.

[@pfoetel]

It's mindboggling how many British clubs went bust or were buried by the football authorities for far lesser numbers. How Barca are still allowed to accumulate more and more debt whilst receiving little to no sanctions from the Spanish FA or dare I mention UEFA, is simply a disgrace to all the football clubs around the world who have to work with pennies in comparison to the brilliant mathematicians at Barca.

[@elliotboro98]

17:20 They got to the UCL Semis in 2019 of course

[@alexisdauvergne9801]

The Frubes line made me laugh more than it should have.

[@nc2933]

It was like they were playing LMA manager on the ps2, got an overdraft and quit the game at the end of the season before they had to pay it back

[@jtjr26]

I had hoped Barcelona would take their medicine like an adult for a few seasons. Play their young players and offload the expensive veteran contracts and make smart Moneyball-like signings. Then when they were in a better financial situation they can go back to bigger signings again. Unfortunately, they have chosen to bury their heads in the sand, and mortgage their future by signing away future revenue. They are doing everything they can to give the appearance that everything is great. So instead of pulling the bandaid off and taking a few years to recover, they are going to be constantly bleeding for the foreseeable future. I have a feeling if there are any other major disruptions like Covid the club will be pulled down under the weight of their own debt.

[@osobad1127]

Lol how was your nap in dreamworld?

[@agm2531]

It’s not that surprising that FCB spent so much more than Real Madrid recently. Not only have they been doing so for more than a decade, but in the past they’ve also been known for spending money far beyond what other teams of their caliber were spending. For example, Maradona, Cruyff and Ronaldo were record breaking transfers when the club had between 0 and 1 UCLs and very few La Liga trophies when compared to Real Madrid.

[@AW-tk4kf]

Could always do a raffle and maybe a bake sale, should raise a few quid

[@higherpower254]

That Neymar transfer single handedly ruined this club and him.

[@mesolithicman164]

So it's Heads you win, Tails I lose with Barcelona's finances. Seriously, that is a corrupt system, it's like they have Picasso as head of their Creative Accountancy department. Borrowing against the future, with the option to buy back their commitments if the huge sums they can now spend on superstar players aren't successful? It's a no lose proposition. Nagelsman had it right, other clubs play by the rules, Barca make up the rules to suit them. Anything they achieve is hollow, because it's all fixed. If top flight financial auditors went in there would be mass arrests.

[@Leo4gzs]

Really good video. I do think that the fixation from the English press on Barça comes from the fact that even though the Premier league is the biggest in the world, the pull from Barça is bigger than most clubs in the world. I believe it’s worth the risk to improve the chances of winning trophies today and give breathing room to that fantastic generation that is making their way than putting more pressure on those kids while fading into obscurity like Milan and Manchester United.

[@LeafyPeach]

Yup, la Liga very top heavy, real Madrid and Barcelona have unmatched pull.

[@Fifisgarden127]

14:49 the way you pronounced araujo…..