La Liga's blunder at Barça after a new accounting mess

The ball goes in, but the numbers are different. In a harsh statement issued this Wednesday morning, the League confirmed about the corporate operation that Barça hastily put together with two Arab companies to register Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor from January 1, 2025. These companies, about which the club has not wanted to provide any details publicly, agreed to pay between the two 100 million euros in exchange for a right to 4 of the future Camp Nou.

Although three days late, La Liga validated the transaction thanks to a favorable report from a contracted auditor. for the occasion and of which Barça also does not provide the name and company name. Three months after that sequence, and once the employers' association has received the interim financial statements of all the clubs in the First and Second Division, the situation has taken a worrying turn.

Since the new Barça auditor, Crowe, does not recognize the 100 million as income in the 2024-25 financial year, La Liga subtracts that same figure from Barça's registration capacity, which abandons the closely watched 1/1 rule of the financial until further notice. In turn, the public slap in the face from the entity chaired by Javier Tebas puts pressure on the Higher Sports Council (CSD), which must issue a final decision on the temporary registrations of Olmo and Víctor in the coming days, always before April 7. Both players are currently competing by virtue of an emergency precautionary measure granted by the CSD itself in mid-January.

Sources close to this government body consulted by this newspaper assure that the resolution will most likely be favorable to the interests of Barça and, above all, to the players. Despite the reduced salary margin, and despite the suspicions linked to the operation of the seats Everything indicates that the CSD will prioritize Olmo and Víctor's right to work. The League will report the ghost auditor to the ICAC The League's change in criteria for calculating Barça's salary cap depends on Crowe's point of view.

The new Barça auditor believes that the 100 million euros (of which only 58 million have entered the coffers) linked to the sale of seats They cannot be recorded as extraordinary income in the current financial year because the asset does not exist (Camp Nou is under construction) and it has not yet been delivered to the buyers. Crowe's auditors believe that if the money has been collected in advance for the exploitation of a future asset, it should be reflected in the accounts as an advance payment until said asset can be effectively transferred to the clients who acquired it. While in internal discussions with this auditor, Barça took advantage of La Liga's recognition of the 100 million euros to renew Araujo, Pedri, Gavi, and Cubarsí's contracts in less than three weeks.

Now that the management association has seen that the transaction has not been included in the interim statements, the salary limit has once again been exceeded..