How Barcelona 'mortgaged their future' to sign…

How Barcelona 'mortgaged their future' to sign Raphinha from Leeds United

For a while, no one was sure whether or not Barcelona would actually be able to sign Brazilian winger Raphinha from Leeds United. After all, financial mismanagement is a term that has become synonymous with the Catalan club in recent years. But the transfer saga surrounding the 25-year-old is finally over after he was presented as a Barcelona player last week.

But weren't Barcelona broke? Weren't they supposed to be undergoing a period of turmoil where they would have to live within their means responsibly?

Well, not quite. While their salary cap situation remains in dire position, the club have been able to generate plenty of funds this summer through selling off their TV and marketing rights and by signing a number of lucrative sponsorship deals. Essentially, they've remortgaged the house.

It's allowed them to inject huge sums of money into the clubs coffers, which enabled them to go out and sign Raphinha from Leeds for around £50m.

Alongside the Brazilian winger, they have also signed Robert Lewandowski from Bayern Munich, as well as landing midfielder Frank Kessie and defender Andreas Christensen. On top of this, they've managed to re-sign Ousmane Dembele to a new contract too.

Now, they still have plenty of work to do when it comes to being able to register these players due to their bloated wage bill. But for now, it looks as though Barcelona are in a strong position on the pitch at least.

And speaking to Sky Sports News, Spanish football expert Graham Hunter outlined just how Barcelona have pulled off their Lazarus-like resurrection.

"In analysing this, don’t let anybody think that I am being defensive of Barcelona because it is extraordinary what they are doing," Hunter told Sky Sports News.

"In fact, I would probably say it’s unprecedented. The way to start explaining is that over the last few weeks, Barcelona have done deals in selling their mortgage rights and selling some TV rights.

"It’s like for anybody who thinks ‘well, can I remortgage my home? Can I draw down value against the worth of my home has accumulated?' That’s what they are doing, in terms of the TV rights and their marketing rights.

"They have been sponsored by Spotify, so they are in the process of taking in something like €600m this summer. That means that they can sign. That means that La Liga have given them the go-ahead to sign and mortgage their futures.

"What isn’t clear is whether those players can be registered yet because the financial fair play imposed by La Liga leaves Barcelona really with their backsides still sticking out of the window. They need to make massive, massive economies of their wage bills."

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