LaLiga have announced their new salary caps for the 2022/23 campaign with Barcelona handed a €560million swing on last season’s wage budget.
The Catalan club have been in a dire financial situation of late with executives continuing to balance the books by cutting costs and selling off their assets to keep out of the red. Their strategy has seen them sell 25% of their LaLiga TV income to a third party for the next 25 years, while they were forced to wait to register some of their new summer signings until they had raised cash from offloading other squad members.
However, despite their financial difficulties, LaLiga chiefs appear convinced Barcelona are on the right track again as they have allowed them to operate with a wage budget of €656.5m for the coming season a huge increase on last season’s total of €97m (via Athletic ).
Meanwhile, rivals Real Madrid have seen their budget slashed by more than €55m down to €683.4m from €739m, despite them winning an illustrious treble last term, including their Champions League triumph. At the other end of the scale, half of the clubs in the division have a budget of just €50m or less.
Those competing towards the top of the table and for the European spots have been given modest budgets, with Atletico Madrid the biggest of the rest on €341m, while the likes of Sevilla, Villarreal, Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad juggle balances ranging between €125-200m.
Elche and Girona will be operating on the strictest budgets for the season with totals around €42m.
It’s hardly surprising that Barcelona and Real Madrid’s dominance over LaLiga has been difficult to break in years gone by when you consider the financial disparity between the 20 clubs in the Spanish top flight.
