Finance
Barcelona VP: Neymar’s arrival was the start of the club’s financial problems
“Neymar’s arrival was the start of the problem, because everything afterwards was inflated due to making an exorbitant payment for a player who had just arrived,” said Eduard Romeu, FC Barcelona’s economic VP.
The Brazilian star joined from Santos in 2013, and apparently, there was concern that his salary was so big for a player who had just arrived to Europe. However, he was possibly the biggest rising star in the world at the time.
Paris Saint-Germain would pay his release clause of 222 million euro in 2017, but what should have been a good thing economically, turned out to be the opposite.
“The madness starts when he leaves, we lost the plot,” Romeu said.
Barcelona bought two players for huge amounts – Philippe Coutinho and Ousmane Dembélé – who did not quite live up to the hype.
Romeu explained that he hopes the club will return to being “in the black” starting next season after years of financial mismanagement and the effects of the COVID recession.