Barcelona to sell TV rights to raise funds for summer transfers

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By Martin Graham | 3rd Jul 2022

Barcelona wants to sell another portion of its TV rights to fund its summer activities. The Catalan giants hope to sign Raphinha, Robert Lewandowski and Jules Kounde ahead of the new season.

The financial situation in Barcelona is far from over. The Catalan club had a poor season where they managed to finish second in La Liga but crashed out of the Europa League embarrassingly. Los Blaugrana want to pull their chestnuts out of the fire. They are doing all they can to turn the situation at the club around.

Barcelona are interested in signing a few players and keeping their best legs. The desires of the club hinge on the injection of massive funds and Joan Laporta is looking to work his magic. The Blaugrana are working on selling some of their prized possessions to meet up with obligations.

Barcelona to sell TV rights to fund transfers

Barcelona find themselves in a position where they have to sell the future to live today. The Catalan giants are struggling to find answers to numerous questions before they hope to sell another 15% of their domestic television rights. According to reports by ESPN, the sale would give them €200 million, which could come in handy in their summer transfer activities.

Barca already sold 10% of their rights to Sixth Street. The deal, which fetched Los Blaugrana €207.5 million, ensured the Catalan giants did not finish the 2021-22 season with losses. Laporta has the permission of the club members to sell up to 25% of the TV rights.

According to sources close to the club, Barcelona believe the other 15% could fetch them as much as €400 million. If this happens, they will be in a position of strength to fund their transfer activities, especially for their targets. They include Raphinha, Robert Lewandowski and Jules Kounde as earlier mentioned.

At the moment, Barcelona have a gross debt of around €1 billion. The debt hangs on the club like an albatross, making seamless business activities near impossible. This puts them within a salary limit of -€144 million and leaves them as the only La Liga club with a negative salary cap.

Barcelona in the transfer market

Despite the massive financial obligations and the tight budget, Barcelona are pushing on with commercial deals, offloading players, and player wage adjustments.

ESPN reports that Barca have presented to Leeds United a bid of €50 million-plus add-ons for Raphinha. Chelsea presented Leeds with an offer above €60 million. Barca would find it a strenuous task to match that fee.

Barca have also made a third offer for Robert Lewandowski this week. The bid to Bayern Munich is worth over €40 million. The Catalans remain hopeful that Bayern will accept the offer. The Bavarians have remained reluctant to negotiate.

Barcelona also have eyes on Sevilla defender Jules Kounde. Xavi wants to strengthen his defence after signing Andreas Christensen on a free transfer. The Spanish giants hope around €45 million would convince Sevilla to part with the defender. Meanwhile, Sevilla are holding out for around €60 million.

Other targets for Barcelona are Bernardo Silva (Manchester City) and Chelsea defender Cesar Azpilicueta.