August 8, 2022
The brief from today:
Pirlo starts off on the wrong foot
Andrea Pirlo’s new experience in the Turkish Super Lig didn’t begin quite as he would have liked. The new Fatih Karagumruk manager faced Alanyaspor, who are coached by his compatriot, Francesco Farioli, in the season opener, and would eventually lose 2-4 at home. The struggle commenced early on, as It was only 30 minutes into the match, and Pirlo’s side already found themselves trailing by two goals. Continuing with the Italian theme, Fatih were able to bring the match level through goals from Fabio Borini and Davide Biraschi. It wouldn’t be enough in the end, however, as Alanyaspor would add to their tally with another two goals killing off the match. Farioli, who had previously coached Fatih Karagumruk in 2021, would surely have enjoyed this victory against his former side. While he has gained in experience in Turkey, Farioli hasn’t been able to hold any senior coaching positions in Italy because he hasn’t acquired the requisite badges. Pirlo, on the other hand, has tried his hand in Serie A, at Juventus no less, and while this move to Turkey isn’t meant to be an easy assignment, his reputation needs improving after the mediocre experience in Turin. The season is still quite young, but the former midfield great already has to turn things around for this new position to be deemed a success.
Pirlo desperate to start getting positive results
Barcelona getting desperate
With the La Liga season commencing this weekend, big spenders Barcelona have yet to register all their new summer signings. The debt still reflected in their financials, coupled with the massive overhead—primarily in salaries—they still have to contend with, means all the new players are ineligible for official matches. The club have activated their so called “economic levers” selling portions of their image rights, as well as the TV rights (more on this later). Rather than use the windfall from both sales to improve the club’s financial health, Laporta and co. have gone on a €177 million spending spree. In addition to those funds used on the transfer fees for three players (Raphinha, Lewandowski, and Kounde), another two players (Kessie and Christensen) were brought in on free transfers. Finally, Ousmane Dembele and Sergi Roberto signed new contracts after their previous ones expired making them part of the seven-player list that still needs to be registered. Barca were hoping to offload some players deemed surplus to Xavi’s needs (Umtiti, Braithwaite), but the cash cow they want to sell is midfielder, Frenkie de Jong. The Dutchman has so far refused to accept an €80+ million transfer to Manchester United because, in addition to having a valid contract and wanting Champions League football, he is still owed almost €20 million in deferred waged from Barca. Following almost a month of de Jong’s refusal to leave, it seems Barca have a new approach they want to explore. Apparently the club have told de Jong that when he restructured his contract under the previous regime led by Bartomeu, which was when the deferred wages were agreed, there were illegalities involved both on the club side, as well as de Jong’s. As a result Barca are trying to use this ploy to annul his contract, and have him agree to the previous contract terms. Doing this would then extricate the club from owing the player the deferred wages. Strangely, no such talk is being directed at the host of other players who signed similar contract extensions that included wage deferrals. For added measure, the previous board that approved those deals insist everything was carried out legally, and have support for that position considering La Liga, in concert with other independent legal parties, gave the all clear. Barca and Laporta aren’t just behaving oddly regarding player contracts, however, as the aforementioned TV rights sale is now being scrutinized. After the sale of 25 percent of the club’s TV rights, over the next 25 years, to investment firm, Sixth Street, Barca were said to have raised €517 million. When reporting the figures to the league, however, the number suddenly became €667 million. There is reporting now that the €150 million surplus will actually be coming from the club itself when the 25-year deal concludes. Allegedly, Barca and Sixth Street created a new investment company called Locksley Invest, and that seems to be the recipient of the TV rights sale, which in turn leased the rights to Sixth Street. The additional €150 million Barca added would be a means to ensure they assume full control of their TV rights after 25 years. Upon reviewing all of this, La Liga rejected the valuation presented by Barca on the total value of the sale, clearly stating that the €667 million figure was inflated with the excess €150 million simply being the club’s money. With that, Barca now have to concoct other ways to raise funds and improve their revenue outlook in relation to their debts. All this creative accounting is tied to the building desperation to register the new signings. Unless the various unwanted players depart via: contract terminations, loans, or sales, Barca will struggle to present a financial position allowing the new players to be in the official squad by this weekend.
Laporta: the man leading Barcelona’s financial success—or ruin