Barcelona are considering pulling out of the sale of 49% of their merchandise company, Barça Licensing & Merchandising (BLM), as president Joan Laporta is eyeing a better deal.
The club’s financial problems are no secret, with officials openly talking about the need to raise 500 million euros this summer to balance books and ‘save’ Barcelona, and more than half of that amount is expected to emerge from this BLM sale.
The Fanatics-led consortium agreed to a 275 million euro deal for 49% of the business, which cost only 200 million euros, but now Marca says Laporta wants more.
Negotiations have plummeted in recent days, when Laporta demanded more money and the federation refused to propose their proposal.
Although negotiations have not yet completely collapsed, the feeling is that the previously agreed agreement will be removed from the table and Barcelona will have to look elsewhere in their efforts to secure funding.
Laporta will address a general meeting on Thursday asking permission from shareholders to sell BLM shares, but is not expected to confirm the details of any negotiations and may leave fans in the dark.
Barcelona also hopes to sell part of its television rights which could bring in another 200 million euros, but apart from this BLM deal, the club still needs 300 million euros if it starts the next season with a good balance.
The president seems to believe that such a price could be raised by the sale of BLM, but if not, Barcelona will have to rely on player sales, which could work out in favor of Manchester United as they continue to negotiate with Frenkie de Jong.
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