Barcelona's revenue streams stopped at the start of the football lockdown in March and there is no immediate financial recovery in sight for the Spanish club. The Catalans said they will be forced to put off big signing plans this summer, meaning the signings of Neymar and Lautaro Martinez will have to wait for better times.
In an interview with Spanish publication Sport, Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu confirmed the game stoppage from March to June and the barring of spectators from the matches hurt Camp Nou's finances. He estimated that losses so far have already reached £180 million and the bleeding will only continue so long as games are played behind closed doors.
Bartomeu admitted that with the financial doldrums in effect, Barcelona will shun away from spending a huge amount of money in the upcoming transfer window.
"The current situation doesn't allow for major transfer fees," Goal reported the Camp Nou chief as saying.
The decision will see Barcelona opting out, if only temporarily, of the reported acquisition of Martinez from Inter Milan, and Bartomeu himself has revealed that talks on the deal, which would cost Barcelona around €100 million, have been halted a few weeks back. The executive said it was a mutual decision for both sides.
In the same way, the mission to bring Neymar back to La Liga will be put on hold. The Catalans have no money to spend and Paris Saint-Germain will not release the Brazilian striker anyway, Bartomeu said.
The South American has been plotting his return to Spain since last year and that summer saw Barcelona making the moves to re-sign Neymar but the deal failed to materialize. The Barca president said he tried his best in 2019 to make Neymar wear the Barcelona shirt again but nothing came out of it.
For this summer's transfer window, Barcelona will not even lift a hand to get Neymar out of Paris.
"We won't be attempting to get Neymar this summer ... We put everything into it last year but we won't be trying again," Marca reported Bartomeu as saying.
The most pressing concern for Barcelona is to make the crucial adjustments that will see the club through the prevailing situation. The president said no major changes can be expected next season and he hinted that Quique Setien is likely to keep his job as manager despite failing to retain the league title.
Also, Bartomeu insisted that Lionel Messi will remain with Barcelona amid the rumors that the team captain could walk out of Camp Nou in the summer of 2021.
The executive said he sees the Argentine superstar playing three or four more years, stressing those remaining playing days by Messi will be spent with the Catalan giants.
