Auditor Grant Thornton warns Barça Vision’s hole is much worse than LaPorta says | Relief

Barcelona fans He was somewhat relieved that his club’s salary cap had been increased to €426 million. They doubled the previous figure and seemed to revive the financial hopes of the Barça team. Even La Liga President Javier Tebas publicly congratulated them. “Laporta is not from Barcelona, ​​he is from Bilbao. They have reduced the wage bill significantly, which is a lot. They understood better how the system works. fair financial, that at first there were few fish. “You can be proud,” he said. A jug of cold water arrived. soon after, the club’s accounts: 91 million losses, taking into account past mistakes…but not all.

Auditor of Barcelona, ​​a prestigious multinational company Grant Thornton chose to heal himself by issuing a qualified opinion on the accounts.. In short, a warning to Barcelona’s partners that they should not maintain the €208 million valuation for the 51% they retain in Barça Vision as the specialist portal has moved forward. 2Manual. We explain this.

Barça’s vision is the key to most of Barcelona’s financial problems of late. In the summer of 2022/23, his sale appeared like a rabbit out of a hat that Laporta’s board pulled out (among other things) to be able to register players. They said they would sell 49% in exchange for 200 million… and the 51% they kept, more or less by eye, they valued at another 208 million. And thanks to these accounts they received benefit and managed to register players and they managed to save match point difficult from the point of view of economic control.

Until now, The auditor’s position was more or less satisfied with Barcelona’s theories. Now the goodwill seems to have changed.. “Just as he was able to save the 2022/23 season, receiving significant benefits (300 million) and practically resolving his financial situation with BarçaVision, the effect boomerang This operation, closed for hours to ensure players are registered, will now impact them at the end of the 2023/24 season and quite possibly into the 2024/25 season.” – Mark Menchen, Director 2Manual.

Very briefly: Barcelona thought they could generate $408 million in revenue. Despite the arrival of investors at the last minute and more or less whimsicalauditor bought everything at that time. Now he chooses to make these caveats, claiming that they were only paid 60 million out of 200, that they have not yet been able to make it public, and that the business plan that supported all of these plans is not being implemented. That is: they must fix it.

even worse

Barcelona have already taken a theoretically cautious stance in their latest accounts… and that’s why they suffered losses. To explain very quickly: they seemed to assume that they would not be able to raise the 140 million they were missing from the 200 million for which they sold Barça Vision and provided the funds to weather this storm. Which is very good… but this is not enough according to the transnational auditor.

If the calculations for selling 49% for 200 million don’t work… then they will not be able to continue to subscribe for their remaining 51% for the amount of 208.. You can consider it proven that it costs much less. There is nothing to suggest that the part of the Barça Vision that still remains is truly worth what the club signed up for.

So what should you do? Well, maybe write something else down as losses. Not all, because this part of Barça Vision is worth something, but not 208 million what he believed at the time. That is: Grant Thornton believes Barcelona’s score should have been even worse.

LaLiga will act based on the auditor’s criteria

Just as if the auditor said that the agreement to sell 49% of Barça Vision for 200 million is valid, La Liga has no choice but to accept this and act accordingly in terms of economic control.…the same will happen if the auditor does not confirm this.

La Liga is set to continue lowering Barcelona’s salary cap whenever they fall short of the 60 million that league members were set to contribute annually. use (Bridgeburgh Invest). The Board of Directors of FC Barcelona, ​​for its part, after the presentation of the reports, explained why it did not adjust the value of Barça Vision.: “There are enough reasons to justify the current value of the company and remain confident in its viability and future opportunities, with an established business plan that will generate recurring income in the near future.”

They will have to be club delegates are those who vote for or against this criterion…worsening the club’s financial position in the short term, but possibly saving it from a more serious disaster in the future. The club has already considered the 140 million that are missing from the account “hopeless”. use…including the 60 he should receive in 2025, given the more than likely risk that they won’t pay again.