Premier League clubs on red alert as Barcelona forced into fire sale
Barcelona have been forced to cut their wage bill by £57million for next season as the club face the possibility of selling some of their best players in the summer transfer window.
Xavi's side currently sit third in La Liga, eight points adrift of leaders Real Madrid in the title race. Barca have lost both El Clasico matches this season and could fall further behind after their financial situation worsened amid a feared exodus of players as they look to fend off a potential punishment.
La Liga announced on Tuesday that Barcelona would be having their permitted salary limit slashed from £231m to £174m for the 2024/25 campaign. The real cost of the Barca squad - which includes the total of salaries and transfer amortisations - is officially budgeted at £421m for this season. At the moment, they are some way over budget and will need to make huge cuts to stay in line with the rules.
Meanwhile, Barca are still at risk of a Champions League ban as UEFA are not accepting the club's wish to accept future media revenues in their latest Financial Fair Play (FFP) calculations. This could land Barcelona in a whole lot of trouble, especially considering the financial gain clubs get from competing at Europe's top table.
It means Barcelona may be forced to sell some of their prized assets. Frenkie de Jong, Gavi, Pedri, Ronald Araujo and Raphinha are among the players linked with moves away this summer. Barca boss Xavi will also leave the club at the end of the season after confirming his departure last month.
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De Jong is reportedly Barcelona's highest-paid player on a whopping £622,000 per week, with Robert Lewandowski the second best on £345,000 per week. Ilkay Gundogan (£311,000 per week) is third, Jules Kounde (£225,000 per week) and Joao Cancelo (£207,000 per week) fourth and fifth.
Xavi will quit Barcelona at the end of the season (Getty Images)Having been linked with a big-money switch to Manchester United in 2022, De Jong could depart Barca this summer, though he still has two years left on his contract. The 26-year-old joined from Ajax five years ago and has since made 207 appearances, scoring 16 goals for the Catalan side.
As for Barca's form on the pitch, they continued their upturn after beating Celta Vigo on Saturday. Speaking after the match, Xavi said: "Yesterday they gave me some stats from Big Data, which said that we would be leaders if we took advantage of everything we generate. We lack that 'clairvoyance' in the last third."
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