now it's time for our talk sport explainer this is the part of the show where one of our panelists try and make sense of the business in football and this time we're going to look at Barcelona and just how they're able to sign worldclass players on money they don't have joining me to discuss this is Spanish football expert Terry Gibson uh Terry hello to you uh let's start with uh Barcelona in the sense of them as a club because there might be a lot of people thinking well how on Earth have Barcelona one of the Giants of Spanish football got themselves into this situation could you break down for us broadly how they've got there I'll try my best um I think a lot of it stems from the previous regime um Jose btoo was the previous president and and people were unaware at the time of how out of control financially the club was so when the new president took over jand the porter he was burdened with a whole Feast of financial issues that were were pretty scandalous to be honest you know the overspending in terms of transfer fees the the ridiculous salaries that players were being paid and it dwarfed even dwarfed Real Madrid you know in terms of Real Madrid paid their players pretty well but Barcelona the salaries they were paying players was was eye opening so XA pter is at to embark on a a regime where he's a to cut costs and the problem in Spanish foot or say problem it's it's not a problem it's the law it's the rules they have a salary cap is issue which is different to the financial fair play that we've had over the years in terms of the Premier League and European football European competition Spain have their own laws in place because they had a about 12 years ago a lot of clubs were paying were coming up with contract for players and at the end of one season there was 180 players and managers that were owed money by those clubs so clubs were writing checks they they couldn't pay so this this is why the new laws were brought into place and to a degree it has worked and we see the infrastructure in Spanish football is far better now than what it was you know TV money in the past it was M all mainly went to Real Madrid and Barcelona maybe Atletico Madrid and the rest of it the was sort of 10 15% that was left was spread out amongst the other 16 17 clubs now their their their incomes from TV revenue is similar to the Premier League so if you're a hafe you're getting 60 70 million was in the past it was six or seven million so that makes a big difference it's making the league stronger but of course it does have implications for a club like Barcelona that are spending above and beyond what they are able to declare to the Spanish Federation so therefore the Spanish Federation then come down on every club and they've brought a salary cap in place which is based on on your debt based on your Revenue and that's the salary cap that you are given at the start of the season I kind of like it because it preempts any any trouble during the season so when La Liga season kicks off we won't have any fear of any club being deductive points during the season everybody knows it's a Level Playing Field everybody knows where they started at the beginning of the season but the implication to that is if you're over the salary cap you cannot register players to play for Barcelona football club until you straighten your finances out so everybody does know where they stand so it's an ongoing it's been a long-term problem for Barcelona it's been exasperated by the fact we had covid so that there was the lack of supporters in the stadium obviously and it's the fact now that they're not in the camp now their Stadium they're in a temporary Stadium the state they're pulling in crowds with 20 30,000 as opposed to 80 90,000 so that's hit had an impact on their revenue as well so what we're seeing there is a massive struggle from Barcelona each summer every summer every January transfer window because they want to strengthen the team they want to bring new players in but it's not easy to move players on when they're on such huge salaries and it's an ongoing struggle until I mean thankfully from their perspective they are due to go back into the camp now in November it's not going to be capacity it's not going to be up to 80 90 100,000 but it's going to be bigger and it will they will be better supported and as opposed to the stadium that they currently find themselves in which is they're pulling in 30,000 you know it's not an attractive place to go and watch a game of football for a lot of the Barcelona supporters so I think things will there is a there is light at the end of the tunnel but at the moment it's a constant struggle for Jean the Porter and and and Deco in particular who sporting director who's responsible for getting rid of players moving players on and trying to bring the right players in I could be critical of the decisions he is making um they tend to go just for attacking players and exciting attacking players as opposed to players they need and that's that's still a problem for for Barcelona I want to talk to you about one transfer in particular because you talked about the salary cap and registering players and this was a big factor in the transfer of Danny Elmo he had a fantastic Euros joined the club but they couldn't register him I believe it's resolved now but could you just explain that situ situation and how that managed to happen well again I was just critical of Deco the sporting director who responsible bringing players in and if we go back to last January they they didn't need a center forward but they spent 40 million million euros on VTO Rock a teenage Striker from Brazil at that time chabby wanted Martin Zuber was a holding with field player they probably got him for that price and now we're seeing them signing Danny Elmo when they have three or four players in in that position that can do a similar job now Dani Elmo is a fantastic player but he's not a player that they need so this is where the the Dilemma is for the you know the club stop buying the fancy players that pleas that might have a sort of temporarily pleased the supporters buy the players they need at the right prices and what we've found ourselves in the situation with Danny Almo it's not the first time it's happened with Barcelona is they can buy the player Barcelona will always find money but they can't within the the laws of the game in with the Spanish Federation they can't adhere to those laws but they can always find money so they find the money to buy a player but then found that they can't register him so Barcelona played two games now Danielo is fit he's been training he's not been allowed to play but they have managed to resolve it with a loophole which is not surprised there are loopholes about and Barcelona do normally find them and this loophole is Andreas Christensen who's been there a couple of years now he is registered he's picked up an Achilles tendon injury which rules him out until Christmas so they've been they've been able to manage to convince the Spanish Federation that they can unregister Andreas Christensen he'll still be paid his salary but he can't play even if he gets fit now he can't play until January so they've unregistered Andreas Christensen they've freed up his salary which together with gundan leaving Clem longlay leaving V rocket going on loan to Bettis means that now finally they were able to announce that Daniel m is registered and can join the squad for the game against Ry VI car what happens when Christensen is fit again though surely they'll they'll have to register him again so how are Barcelona going to get around that and this is this quite bizarre in your opinion the way that they are doing these dealings it is but they have to do something they they they needed some new players you know they're they're trying to strip their squad there are players that it was it came as a surprise that ilai Gund left so quickly I mean I think it's it's no secret of Frankie D Young and Robert levandowski and massive earners but they can't move them on because no one's going to be able to F to pay their salaries they earn at Barcelona so it it's they're always having to do this at the moment they're hoping when they get back in the camp now and it's back up to full capacity then they have any of these issues as long as they spend and wisely and they pay sensible salaries as opposed to what we seeing with players in the last I'd say five years it's not just a a current problem the the high salaries of Neymar and Messi and people like that have been you know re really really high and it's not just them it's other players as well players you probably wouldn't expect to be earning such big money have been so this is where it's going to be until the camp now is is up and running and functioning properly they're going to be having to be doing this in every transfer window I think Andreas Christensen was one of those players they were looking at possibly selling but now the injuries occurred so maybe if he gets fit then maybe we might be looking at them putting him on the market again in in the winter transfer window so this won't be the last we've only got a week a few days left of the transfer window I would't be surprised to see they still trying to bring somebody else in I mean they have been lucky they've been blessed with every cloud there's a silver lining because what this issue has brought to ahead is them using young footballers you know instead of a whole group a whole Squad of 27 28 29 30 year olds establish Superstars because of this situation they've about to dig deep go into the the academy and some of the players they're producing is just out this world L yal is one obviously everybody knows he's now 17 pal Kari is 17 mon Manel who's filling in the role holding Midfield player looks like another Sergio buett he's 17 you know pedri Gaby Alejandra B they've got six or seven unbelievable talented young players that may not got their opportunity of Barcelona was still running them Mark and spending hundreds of millions of pounds every transfer window so you know chabby was the first manager to bring them in and the likes of Gaby and Lin Mo Lin Mo was 15 when he was made his debut and now the there's a whole group of these young talented players that pretty much I have to be honest are saving Barcelona and Terry I think the thing that that people may scratch their heads about at the moment is the fact that the club is nearly three billion in debt and you said earlier that they always find a way to to be able to buy players what are some of those ways what are some of the more bizarre ways that Barcelona have managed to stump up that money well people to understand as well that that Barcelona isn't owned by anybody it's owned by the supporters so not one person it's not a it's not a you know a club that's owned by wealthy owners and the likewise with Real Madrid and there's athletic BB as well there I think Al sooner there's a few clubs around in Spain that are still owned by the supporters so it's hard to generate interest uh wealth from outside it's not allowed constitutionally the supporters won't allow it so what they've done the past they've sold bits of the club off you know TV their TV studios which was Barcelona TV was sold to a company um and then it's disappeared there is no Barcelona TV anymore so there's been some some some weird deals but I understand with you know Jean laort that they have to do stuff they couldn't just leave it I went to a game just coming out of Co I went to the camp now to watch Barcelona against Granada it was restricted in terms of the amount of people were allowed so wasn't allowed to be full capacity but it was pouring down with rain it was a Monday night game under Ronald K and the team weren't doing well there was less than 20,000 now and I was in the stadium that night it was flooded it was decrepit it was it was one of the worst stadiums I've been in since I was playing since I played for Wimbledon a play Lane it was on a par with that and people were wading through water no roof under the stadium at all so everybody in there's getting wet the concourses were flooded it was I and I sat there that night and I thought this is depressing this is miserable this is I can't see where this club is is going to go and they're somehow managing to raise the finance because it's not football related to build the new stadium and somehow they since I went they've won the league under chabby you know they done particularly well in the Champions League they'll challenge again this year in the Lea and they they somehow that they're getting through and at the same time building a a new stadium so that saves everything a new camp new camp now 80 90 100,000 that saves Barcelona and just very quickly I think the club you could compare Barcelona 2 in the Premier League in terms of the way that they are freely spending money and sometimes you look at it as a fan and think well how on Earth they able to do that how would you compare the current situations of Barcelona to Chelsea well I think it's different to Chelsea because Chelsea can and in the past particular Roman Abramovic was in charge the wealth came from him so he there was a huge de of Chelsea but it was Roman Abramovic financed it excuse me Barcelona can't do that so it's in the past they got away with it but not now because of the the new laws Terry thank you very much indeed uh for your time Terry Gibson Spanish football expert there and thanks for your time that was the talk sport explainer here on how football works on am on da via the talk sport app and on your smart speaker talk sport