Barcelona fined by La Liga after three breaches of Financial Fair Play regulations

Barcelona have been hit with a £705,000 fine for breaching La Liga's Financial Fair Play regulations.

The Blaugrana have been struggling financially in recent years, racking up enormous debts and not even being able to register new signings.

In order to cut down and balance the books, they asked first-team players to reduce their wages and recouped funds through selling other parts of the club such as domestic TV rights and their in-house media studio.

Barca have had to adhere to a salary cap imposed by La Liga but it's now emerged that the Catalan side have been found guilty of falling foul of rules in place.

The sanctions, of which there are three, are related to the signings of Dani Alves and Andreas Christensen and the contract extension for defender Ronaldo Araujo.

As per ARA, via Barcelona Universal, the alleged breaches are from the 2021/22 financial year and an appeal has already been launched with the RFEF UEFA license second instance committee by Barca.

Both Alves and Christensen joined on free transfers, the former taking a sizeable wage cut to return to the Nou Camp for a second spell.

Image: Alamy

Araujo, meanwhile, agreed a contract renewal back in April - committing his future to the club for another four years with a deal that also included a €1 billion release clause.

Barcelona spent around €153 million in the summer, bringing in the likes of Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and Jules Kounde in a bid to compete with Real Madrid again.

The financial levers allowed them to make those deals happen but it's now come to light that Barca won't be able to replicate those steps in the future.

Image: Alamy

La Liga president Javier Tebas told Mundo Deportivo: "The levers have worked for them this season but not for the next one.

"They have to reduce salary mass, they cannot continue with more than €500m (£436m)."

Meanwhile, manager Xavi Hernandez has already ruled out any new incomings in January and maintains he is happy with his squad.

Barca are top of La Liga on goal difference after 15 games following a 1-1 draw with Catalan rivals Espanyol.

Topics: Barcelona, La Liga, Dani Alves, Andreas Christensen

Josh Lawless

Josh is a sports journalist who specialises in football and wrestling. He has been published by Curzon Ashton FC, Late Tackle, Manchester City FC, The Mirror, Read Man City and Manchester Evening News. He provides coverage of professional wrestling and has interviewed some of the biggest names in the field - including the first UK interview with The Hardy Boyz after their return to WWE. He has never sported a pair of Lonsdale Slip-ons, contrary to reports.

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