Barça dilemma: € 45M to sign Lautaro or pay salaries

The Champions League is no longer just Barça's sports lifeline this year. It can also be, for your management and for your players, a cheap oxygen cylinder. Bartomeu, president, but also vice president of sports, has admitted that there is no chance that Neymar will return to Barça this summer and that the talks for Lautaro Martínez are stopped. LaLiga has let Barça know that if they want to sign the Argentine, bartering will not be enough. A percentage will have to come out of the club box, not a financial projection. And then there is the matter of wages. Bartomeu knows that this summer he may have to negotiate with one of his stars to reduce his wages or, failing that, to expand his contracts to postpone certain amounts of money.

For this reason, and due to the lack of daily income in the club, such as those from ticketing and those from the Museum, the money from the awards that UEFA grants for going through rounds in the Champions League seems, more than ever, essential. It could be said that the players will not only compete against Naples and in Lisbon, if they arrive, for sporting glory. They will also do it for economic health.

Namely, Barça will charge 10.5 million euros if it enters the quarterfinals; 12 million more if classified for semis; 15 million for being in the final; and, finally, four for being champion. To those 41.5 million should be added 3.5 million for being classified for the European Super Cup. That is, if Barça is the champion of Europe, he pockets 45 million and would have an extra one if he is champion of the European Super Cup. Barça, by the way, has already entered 71.1 million this UEFA season: 34 out for their cache in the historical ranking, 24.5 for playing the first phase (15) and passing it (9.5) and 12 , 6 for the four victories and the two draws of the first phase.

Beyond the bonuses that Bartomeu may have negotiated with the players, winning would be a relief for the coffers of the club. Players, aware that years of trouble are coming, are also aware of this issue. This Barça of the 34 titles in the Messi era is beyond doubt regarding sports hunger. But the current account also matters.