Barça set to record losses of €487 million

Joan Laporta has claimed that the club is set to record losses of €487 million as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. He admitted that the club will need to work very hard to regain the trust and confidence of its sponsors, but remained confident and optimistic that it would be able to do so.

"We were expecting to make losses of around 200 million euros, but we are actually on course to record losses of 487 million euros", said Laporta, without going into more details.

He did, however, talk about the impact on the club's sponsors in light of Leo Messi's departure due to the club's inability to comply with LaLiga's financial fair play rules.

"The impact on sponsors? We'll need to work even harder and better on this, if possible, to attract more sponsors to the club, to explain what Barça is and what it represents, and the fact that we have a squad of incredibly talented players. Other players will also arrive in the future who will make sponsors want to be associated with Barça", he said.

He predicts a promising future

Laporta: "Barça must come before the best player in the world"

"It's true that Messi, football-wise, had a way to go. We felt that he could still contribute a lot to the club, and that's why we wanted him to stay. However, we have been forced to bring this decision forward and will now need to [live in the post-Messi era], but I'm sure we have a promising future ahead of us".