Barcelona president: ‘We can sign the players that we want.’

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Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu has moved to reassure fans over the club’s financial position: ‘We can sign the players that we want.’

In a wide-ranging interview, Bartomeu stated that whilst the club would take a big hit to its finances due to the coronavirus pandemic, it would also be in a stronger position than anyone else to quickly recover.

A Barcelona statement on Monday confirmed that the senior squad had agreed to a wage reduction of over 70% until the resumption of football.

The coronavirus outbreak has brought sport across the world to a halt with Spanish football suspended indefinitely – meaning that all clubs have no income from matchdays or, for the elite clubs, their museums.

However, Bartomeu has moved to say that the club’s sporting director Eric Abidal alongside his assistant Ramon Planes are currently working on transfers to be completed this summer.

Inter striker Lautaro Martinez has been strongly linked with a move to the Catalan giants this summer.

Bartomeu has suggested that player swap deals could be a prominent feature over the summer months, and a report in Diario Sport this month suggested Arturo Vidal and Nelson Semedo could be offered to the Milanese club in exchange for the Argentine international.

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“Abidal and Planes are working on building a squad for next season who can compete for everything,” Bartomeu said in an interview with Diario Sport.

“I do not want to discuss names, but we will be in a position to make transfers for players that we want to sign.

“We are the most profitable club in world football and we can sign the players that we want at this club.

“The club are not in danger. We have other sources of income aside from ticket sales and TV rights, as we have football schools and the club museum.

“It is true that the state of emergency impacts us more than other clubs, but it also means we can react quicker when it is over to make money.

“In February we were ahead of our ambitious projections for making money, as we continue to be the highest earning football club in the world – so now it is about how we react.

“We predict that this transfer market will have a lot less money because of the (coronavirus) pandemic, but there will still be a lot of moves and I predict player exchange deals.”

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