Barcelona failed to pay their players at the end of June, club president Sandro Rosell has revealed.
Rosell, who succeeded Joan Laporta at the financially troubled Catalan outfit last week, also said a loan of about £125m had been secured to pay wages. "We found a club in debt, with liquidity problems. At this point we have to take a loan to pay the wages of the players," he said. But Rosell said Barca can still afford Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas.
Barca recently sold defender Dmitro Chygrynskiy to Shakhtar Donetsk for about £12.5m to help raise much-needed funds, even though coach Pep Guardiola had been keen to keep him. They also sold Ivory Coast international Yaya Toure to Manchester City for about £20m.
However, Rosell has moved to reassure worried fans that Barca's problems are under control and that the process of securing a loan had already started under the previous board.
"The banks know that we have a business plan that will allow them to recover the money. The club is not bankrupt because it generates income," he added. "The members shouldn't be afraid because it is under control. We must resolve this tension. It can be done in two ways: to have extra income, like selling Chygrynskiy, and/or taking a loan, which is what we have done. The previous board had already begun this process. We followed the same path - the same banks, the same target but with a different business plan. They [Laporta's board] also knew they needed this credit."
And Rosell even claimed that over 50m euros (about £41m) would still be available to spend on new players.
Despite their financial issues, Barcelona have been pursuing Arsenal star Fabregas for some time and recently signed Spain striker David Villa from Valencia. Rosell intends to meet Gunners manager Arsene Wenger in South Africa shortly to discuss a deal for Fabregas, who started his career at the Nou Camp. "It's now or never. We'll do it fast. It won't be protracted," said Rosell. "I'll try to see Wenger in South Africa, then we'll tell you what happens. We would not pay the 50-60m euros that I have read about. If Arsenal do not go crazy, he might play at Barca. There will be 50m euros to sign more players. This is the case every year. This is our plan for the future.Technically, as of now we have 50m euros plus 15 for Chygrynskiy and 24 for Toure. In total, 89m euros (about £75m)."
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