Barcelona posts big financial losses

Spanish champions Barcelona posted a loss last season of around 77 million euros, its first deficit in seven years, instead of a profit as claimed by the previous board, the club said on Tuesday.

The previous board, led by former Barcelona president Joan Laporta, announced at the end of their mandate in late June that the Catalan side had made a profit of 11 million euros (14.2 million dollars) in the 2009-10 season.

But an external audit carried out by Deloitte for new Barcelona president Sandro Rossel — who took over on July 1 — determined that Barcelona are actually 77.1 million euros in the red.

The new audit puts Barcelona’s total net debt at a record 442 million euros.

“The figures presented by the former board don’t reflect the real image,” said Barcelona’s vice-president for economic affairs Javier Faus.

“There is a structural problem. The sporting excellence in the last few years has not been reflected in economic excellence. The new board’s goal is to bring economic excellence alongside sporting excellence,” he added.

Earlier this month Barcelona announced they had taken out a loan of 155 million euros to solve cash-flow problem after struggling to pay wages in the previous month.

Barcelona signed striker David Villa for 40 million euros in May but have parted ways since the end of the season with Ivory Coast defender Yaya Toure, French striker Thierry Henry and Ukrainian defender Dmitryo Chygrynskiy.

Toure joined Manchester City in a deal worth 30 million euros, Chygrynskiy returned to Ukrainian powerhouse Shakhtar Donetsk in a deal worth 15 million euros while Henry joined the New York Red Bulls for an undisclosed amount.