“If it had been SAD, the Barça would have been in cause of dissolution”

Ferran Reveter, CEO of Barça, took this Wednesday the photo of the ruin of Barça with the explanation of the diu diligence that the club has carried out these months to know in detail how the club was as of March 2021. The first conclusion was crude: “If it had been SAD, the Barça would have been in cause of dissolution. In March 2021 the situation was one of accounting bankruptcy, but since we are a club and not a SAD, that is why the debt had to be refinanced. “

Reverter presented the diu diligence with a very simple structure: what has the new board of directors found, the consequences and the actions since March of the Board led by Joan Laporta. The first thing the due diligence detected was a negative net worth, which means being in accounting bankruptcy. The debt, of 1,350 million, forced a refinancing. Hence, Barça requested a loan of 595 million euros at an average interest of 1.98%.

Reverter also revealed that Barça has already reduced the wage bill by 155 million and continues to negotiate lower salaries for players, motivated by a disproportionate increase in the wage bill (288 million) in recent years. The last. Reverter gave another chilling data: “In four players, Barça had more than 300 million euros in expenses. Without the decisions of this board, the wage bill would be 108% of the income, that is, 835 million. In four years, with four players, Barça acquires one salary mass of 1,400 million euros. More than 300 million euros per season with just four players. ” The debt went from 159 to 673 million between 2017 and 2021. Reverter and the diu diligence only recognize 108 million losses due to the impact of COVID; 43 million in the 2019-20 season and 65 million in the first nine months of the 2020-21.

Bartomeu's liability action, pending a Forensic

Ferran Reverter, CEO of Barça, did not ensure that the board of Joan Laporta will file a liability action against the former president, Josep Maria Bartomeu. Everything will depend on the Forensic that is underway and in which the slicing of invoices and commissions to agents, which reached 48 million euros, with cases of up to 33% in one operation. “We have detected signs of irregularities. But there was a lot of lack of documentation. The Forensic is not finished yet. I know there are expectations, but we have not finished our work yet. When we finish it we will see if they go to legal. We have not decided, we have to wait, we want to know more, “said Reverter, who at the beginning of his speech affirmed that bills were chopped up” to avoid the club's control mechanisms.

The Forensic focuses on three branches where money could have been diverted: Espai Barça, intermediaries and suppliers. “What I can see at the moment is that there is a disastrous management (of Bartomeu and his Board) because, as I have tried to convey, there was no planning. The improvisation was total. We launched into the biggest investment in history with Espai Barça and, at the same time, we launched ourselves to buy players in a crazy way“said Reverter, who also revealed that previous executives did not work with club computers but personal computers, which has caused them not to find much documentation. “They are making it difficult for us”, said.