Barcelona president Joan Laporta has revealed that the club’s debt has risen to €1.35 billion.

Laporta took over as president at Barca in March after winning elections that followed Josep Maria Bartomeu‘s resignation in October 2020. Laporta was left to deal with a series of off-the-pitch crises as the club struggled with financial problems which were worsened by the coronavirus pandemic.

“As of March 21, 2021, the debt was €1.35bn,” Laporta said in a news conference on Monday. “Bartomeu was plugging holes in the short term and mortgaging the club in the long term. That leaves us a dramatic inheritance. To the initial debt of €617m, you have to add €389m on players, €90m in litigation, €79m in advance television rights, and €56m from the ‘Espai Barca’ project. In total, it’s €1.35bn.”

Laporta was very open about the financial issues for the club. The club lost superstar Lionel Messi, who joined Paris Saint-Germain last week. Laporta described it as “sad, but necessary,” after Barca was unable to agree to a new contract with Messi within the club’s strict La Liga imposed salary cap.

Only Gerard Pique‘s acceptance of a last-minute pay cut allowed Barca to sign Memphis Depay and Eric Garcia this weekend.

“We’re happy we resolved it with Pique, and we’re hugely grateful,” Laporta said. “Some players are more than just players. Pique is a club man who loves Barca above all. He’s seen that we’re in a difficult situation, and he’s done something that deserves praise.”

Laporta blamed the previous board of directors led by Bartomeu for the increased wage bill. Laporta said that Barcas’ wage bill had reached an unsustainable 103% of the club’s income.

“It isn’t true that the salaries rose to be able to compete with the ‘state clubs’ [referring to PSG and Manchester City] and the Premier League,” he said. “They spent the €220m from the Neymar deal disproportionately and at light speed. That is when the salaries shot up. We’ll have to change the model and invest in [Barcelona’s academy] La Masia, making more proportionate investments with more sporting logic.”

Last week, Bartomeu wrote an open letter in which he defended his administration and criticized Laporta’s running of the club.

“I have read [the letter] carefully, and it is full of lies,” Laporta said in response to Bartomeu’s letter. “It is an effort to justify unjustifiable management. It is an exercise in desperation, that looks to take advantage of a moment of unrest among Barcelona fans. They say they are not responsible for the 2019-20 accounts, but they are responsible until March 17, 2021. The numbers are [Bartomeu’s] board’s responsibility. Nobody will escape from that.”

Neymar won’t be leaving Barcelona anytime soon, according to Gerard Pique.

Gerard Pique Neymar Barcelona PSG news

The Catalan defender on Sunday tweeted a photo of himself alongside his Brazilian teammate with the caption “Se queda,” — which means “He is staying” in Spanish — as a way to respond to rumors tying Neymar to a transfer to Paris Saint-Germain.

Spanish newspaper Marca recently published two conflicting articles within one day of each other: one that claimed Neymar had chosen to stay at Camp Nou, and another reporting that the 25-year-old forward had agreed to a deal with PSG. According to The Guardian, several recent reports also claimed the French club had activated Neymar’s release club of nearly £200 million ($261 million) and offered the Brazilian £500,000 ($651,000) per week.

Neymar and his Barcelona teammates did not say immediately say anything in the days after the transfer speculation, thus fans were left confused as to the forward’s future with the Spanish club.

ESPN FC reported on Sunday — citing a source — that Neymar and his father Neymar Sr. have agreed to a huge deal with PSG of at least four years that would see the Brazilian star earn nearly €30 million ($35 million) after taxes as well as a signing bonus. This deal reportedly came after several discussions between Neymar Sr. and PSG’s Qatari owners and sporting director Antero Henrique in the past few days.

Meanwhile, Spanish outlet Sport reported that Neymar’s Barcelona teammates Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez had convinced the Brazilian to stay with the club.

Neymar scored both of Barcelona’s goals in the first half of the team’s 2-1 International Champions Cup friendly victory over Juventus at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on Saturday, but did not speak with reporters after the game.

Caption: Neymar playing for Barcelona against Villarreal in La Liga, 1 February 2015. Neymar opened the scoring for Barcelona in their 3–2 win. Photo by Alex Fau via Wikimedia Commons.

Second-half goals from substitute Arda Turan and Gerard Pique gave Barcelona a thrilling, 2-1, come-from-behind victory over Borussia Mönchengladbach in UEFA Champions League play on Wednesday night at Borussia-Park.

Arda Turan, Gerard Pique Score To Lift Barcelona To 2-1 Win

The Catalans’ victory snapped the German hosts’ 11-game home winning streak. Barca now have two wins in as many Group C matches to top the standings, following their 7-0 thrashing of Celtic last week. The Spaniards have scored nine goals and allowed only one in the two games combined, and sit in first place in the Champions League table with six points, just two ahead of Manchester City.

The Bundesliga team took the lead, scoring against the run of play, with Thorgan Hazard firing home at the end of a break in the 34th minute.

Messi sat out for Barcelona with a groin injury, and was replaced by youngster Paco Alcacer. 

Mönchengladbach, meanwhile, have zero points, having lost both matches thus far. Manchester City tied with Celtic 3-3 in the other group match to stay second on four points.

Barcelona coach Luis Enrique started Andrés Iniesta, Javier Mascherano, Jordi Alba and Ivan Rakitic, all of whom were rested in the 5-0 rout of Sporting Gijon over the weekend.

Barca imposed themselves early on, recording their first scoring opportunity with Neymar’s shot from inside the box, which was saved by goalkeeper Yann Sommer after seven minutes.

The game also marked a homecoming for Barcelona’s 24-year-old German goalie Marc-Andre ter Stegen, who was facing the team in the city he spent his entire life, from the age of four until he joined Barca in the summer of 2014.

In the 65th minute, Barcelona tied the game when Neymar found Turan–who came in for Rakitic–in the Borussia area and the Turk volleyed off the bounce, sending the ball into the goal with a hard shot that produced a rattling sound from the metal stake used to hold up the upper back corner of the net.

Then in the 73rd, after Luis Suarez jumped to kick a 17-meter volley, Pique came in to give the Catalans the lead. Sandwiched between a pair of defenders, Pique slotted the rebound home from close range after a weak clearance by Sommer.

Barcelona next faces Celta Vigo on Sunday in a La Liga matchup, while Gladbach will next play Schalke in Sunday’s Bundesliga game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=entbX3Fs9sM

GIJON, SPAIN – SEPTEMBER 24: Arda Turan of FC Barcelona celebrates after scoring his team’s fourth goal during the La Liga match between Real Sporting de Gijon and FC Barcelona at Estadio El Molinon on September 24, 2016 in Gijon, Spain. (Photo by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images)