Barcelona have reportedly been left with a mere £21m transfer budget for the whole of 2017 after spending big this past summer to rebuild the squad.
It’s been a far from perfect season thus far for the Catalan giants, as they sit three points adrift of La Liga leaders Real Madrid, who have a game in hand, and came unstuck against Manchester City in the Champions League to show their vulnerabilities.
However, according to The Sun, coach Luis Enrique won’t have money to spend in January to fix any on-going issues at the club as he simply doesn’t have enough money.
It’s claimed that there is a £21m budget for the entire year next year, not taking into account possible future sales, as ultimately Barca spent all their money in the summer.
Samuel Umtiti, Lucas Digne, Denis Suarez, Paco Alcacer and Jasper Cillessen were all signed in the summer to help build a younger squad, while it was offset with the sales of Claudio Bravo, Marc Bartra and Alen Halilovic to ensure the net spend was £43.25m.
However, they then spent £30m on Andre Gomes to blow their cash reserve and in turn they are left in their current predicament.
With key players signing contract extensions, it hasn’t all been bad business for the Spanish outfit, while they could yet bring in veterans in cut-price deals with Darijo Srna and Branislav Ivanovic among those linked with a move by The Sun.
Nevertheless, it will be a disappointment for the club’s supporters to know that they’ve spent a lot of money and not really seen the best results as of yet, and the pressure will be on Enrique to work with what he has now to ensure that it results in a successful season.