A German venture capital fund involved with Barcelona over a stake in Barca Studios sees its deal with the club jeopardized.
As preparation for the coming season in terms of Barca’s finances, they struck a deal with a German venture capital fund whose name remains unknown to the public as of yet.
The deal included a 16 percent stake in Barça Studios in return for an injection of 65 million euros in Barcelona’s accounts. The money had since been used in their feasibility plan presented to LaLiga prior to pre-season, and would be used for registration of players. Given that the money was considered a transaction for the stake in Barcelona’s assets, it could be included in the club’s squad related proceedings.
However, two contradicting reports have since come out of Catalonia, regarding the deal, with one suggesting the deal is off.
Catalan news outlet Esport3 reported Wednesday afternoon that the deal was off, as the fund had pulled out. The reason was unnamed, but jeopardized Barcelona’s financial situation, as the responsibility naturally would fall on club president Joan Laporta to find another solution swiftly, with the season rapidly approaching.
Shortly afterwards, Spanish news outlet Mundo Deportivo consulted sources close to the club, who gave a different side of the story: the agreement isn’t off, and the deal remains being adequately worked on.
Should the deal fall through, the injection would for obvious reasons not be in Barcelona’s hands, and player exits would have to be prioritized even further.
Having let go of Álex Collado, Clément Lenglet and Samuel Umtiti amongst other names, the next name on the list appears to be Ousmane Dembélé. Despite the player’s reputation among top clubs, the club stands to only receive 25 million euros from his 50 million euro release clause, with the rest going to the player and his agent in commissions, according to reports. This would only be the case if his release clause was triggered prior to August 1.
However, reports from Spain suggest that deal is in jeopardy, too, as the club believe the player and agent have not entitled themselves to an equal 50/50 split due to unmet objectives, and have even declared themselves ready to pursue legal action if the player’s side refuse to comply with the Catalan club’s demands.
