FC Barcelona's Current Situation
By: Jonatan Campos
FC Barcelona is a growing team known worldwide for winning titles like La Liga, Copa del Rey and UEFA Champions League. During the years, they were sporadically strengthening their team as they won at least a trophy each season. In 2006, the long-awaited European trophy arrived. In 2009, FC Barcelona's president Joan Laporta decided that it was time to make any changes to improve his team.
With Pep Guardiola as a coach, in 2009, FC Barcelona won all the trophies that were on their way with a team that consisted of many of the world's best players, as World Soccer Talk remarks. In 2015, the story happened again. They won their second "treble," and it seemed that the team could win more important titles during the next years.
FC Barcelona's situation has changed during the last 4 years: new coaches arrived but did not last long due to irregular playing style, and mismanagement led to conflicts that affected the staff. Some hardships like having the advantage and not being able to bear it happened at their most important and decisive matches in the UEFA Champions League (Roma and Liverpool), restricting them from reaching international trophies again.
Along with sports results, when mismanagement struck FC Barcelona's internal offices, president Joseph Maria Bartomeu's board kept making unusual decisions. In 2017, Neymar decided to leave Barcelona for Paris being the most expensive player of all time ($263 million). Bartomeu's board decided to sign players at a price more than they are worth with Neymar's transfer amount.
More problems arrived at the Catalan city, beginning with the imminent exit of Lionel Messi. According to Bleacher Report, the situation with Messi over the summer likely sealed Bartomeu's fate at the club. The superstar became disillusioned with the club's state and tried to cancel his contract's remainder using a clause that would have allowed him to leave on a free transfer if he triggered it before the end of the season.
FC Barcelona's finances represent a big problem if the upcoming board wants to shape a post-Lionel Messi era. ESPN remarks that everything's not just fine: there are over a billion euros in debt, wages accounting for 74% of the budget, short-term debt of €720m and a €488m loss in 2019-20. There is a lot of data that has made the team members worry, and solutions are being asked daily.
Last season was trophy-less for FC Barcelona, and the course of the present season predicts that results are not encouraging. The present team's positive is their promising youth players like Pedri, Ronald Araujo, Riqui Puig, Ousmane Dembele and Ansu Fati. If the new board comes to develop a new project, bring the right complementary players and raise their financials like in 2009, there could be a good FC Barcelona again.