Barca wages still €300m over La Liga limit despite Messi exit

Barcelona are still in serious financial trouble despite lowering their wage budget with the departures of Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann among others, Goal understands.

The Camp Nou side saved €200 million (£171m/$232m) in salaries over the course of the summer, giving them some breathing room amid their financial crisis.

But the club continue to drown in debt and their unsustainable situation will force them into further cuts next year.

Barca have a salary limit of €98m (£84m/$114m) imposed on them by La Liga this season, a significant drop from the €382m (£327m/$443m) limit of last year.

But the club is still spending around €420m (£359m/$487m) on the senior team's salaries, more than €320m (£274m/$371m) over their maximum.

The club will escape any sanctions from the Spanish football authorities as long as they work to fix the problem.

But the Catalan team will not be able to increase their spending any time soon. Barca will have to keep cutting until they can balance the books.

Just as Barca saw Messi leave and subsequently join Paris Saint-Germain and let Antoine Griezmann return to Atletico Madrid during the summer transfer window, they have little hope of keeping the current squad together next year.

They are already trying to convince Sergi Roberto, Ousmane Dembele and Samuel Umtiti among others to accept a pay cut in the coming months, but they may even have to let some of those players leave in the near future.

Roberto and Dembele, for example, have not agreed to a new deal as of yet and their contracts will expire at the end of the season.

Despite the club's assertion that they will try to bring in a new face or two in the January transfer window, they will not be able to sign any players on lucrative deals.

They do have some leeway because La Liga rules allow them to spend an extra 25 per cent of the current cost of the team, meaning Barca will have around €25m (£21m/$29m) to play with.

But the club's decision on Ronald Koeman's future will also affect how much they can spend, given it will cost around €13m (£11m/$15m) to sack the coach this season.