The great Spanish sale: LaLiga clubs prepare to cut wage-bills by 30% for next season as Barcelona look to recoup money on Ousmane Dembele while Atletico weigh up offers for Saul Niguez... and Gareth Bale could leave Real Madrid for FREE!

  • LaLiga clubs are ready to cut their wage bills by 30 per cent for next season
  • The financial crisis will likely lead to a fire sale for most of Spain's top sides
  • Apart from Lionel Messi, Barcelona will likely listen to offers for their players
  • Gareth Bale and James Rodriguez could be allowed to leave Real Madrid for free
  • Atletico Madrid could also cash in on Saul Niguez – who is a target for Man City 

When the president of LaLiga, Javier Tebas, told Spanish clubs last month: 'Forget about signings like the ones we have seen before, concentrate on bringing through youth players and recalling loans,' it sent a shudder through the board rooms of some of the top clubs in Spain.

As a general rule you can't keep the global fanbase, which finances the club, happy without shiny new signings every summer. But how would such deals be done in such a crisis?

Tebas wasn't wrong about the financial predicament LaLiga's top clubs find themselves in.

Real Madrid could be willing to let Gareth Bale leave for free in a bid to reduce their wage bill

Real Madrid could be willing to let Gareth Bale leave for free in a bid to reduce their wage bill

Real Madrid's players have already agreed a 10 per cent cut in wages between now and the end of the season that will double if the season cannot be completed. Next season the club believes the wage bill will have to be cut by 30 per cent.


Barcelona are in a similar position. The likely delay until February in reopening stadiums hurts them more than most and means their budget for next season could include as much as a £177million (€200m) fall in projected revenue. Such a drop – from £885m (€1billion) to £708m (€800m) cannot sustain their £590m (€670m) wage bill.

So what to do? For Barcelona the crisis is likely to lead to a fire sale that will, if it works, fund at least one big signing. For Madrid it could mean players such as James Rodriguez and Gareth Bale are allowed to leave for next to nothing or even on a free.

Ask around Barcelona who's for sale and you'll be told guardedly, who isn't? Lionel Messi aside it's difficult to see the club turning down the right bid for anyone.

Games being played behind closed doors will harm Barcelona more than most in LaLiga

Games being played behind closed doors will harm Barcelona more than most in LaLiga

Young defender, 20-year-old Jean-Clair Todibo, is very highly rated but if he can be sold for £17m (€20m) then it's likely he will be. Samuel Umtiti is on a long deal until 2023 but if someone comes in with a bid of over £26m (€30m) then it will be listened to. Both won't leave but one could.

Like Umtiti, Ivan Rakitic and Arturo Vidal were being pushed into the shop window last summer and are still there, unsold because neither, particularly Rakitic, wants to leave.

The inability to sell those two has, in part, provoked Arthur Melo being made available. While in attack Ousmane Dembele – for all that he is frequently tagged not-for-sale – will be gift-wrapped for anyone willing to pay anything remotely close to the £123m (€140m) paid for him.

Philippe Coutinho is another who would be available, despite new coach Quique Setien believing he can rescue him for the cause. Martin Braithwaite has only just arrived but Brighton, Bournemouth, Crystal Palace, West Ham and Everton who have all showed an interest in the past could get another opportunity.

The problem for Barcelona is that just as they are selling to avoid a major financial problem so the rest of Europe has no money to spend. The Catalans are hoping that the Saudi Arabia-backed takeover of Newcastle goes through and that new owners forget about revamping the club's training ground and splurge through their first summer at the helm.

Ousmane Dembele will be gift-wrapped for anyone willing to pay anything remotely close to the £123m paid for him
Antoine Griezmann may be departing Barcelona this summer as part of a squad clear-out

Ousmane Dembele (left) and Antoine Griezmann (right) could head for the Nou Camp exit

If new money does not come into the market then swaps – frowned on by clubs for so long – will become more popular than ever.

Last summer there was a strange transaction between Barcelona and Valencia with Barca reserve keeper Jasper Cillessen and Valencia's first choice Neto, in effect swapping places.

Barcelona were able to add the £30m (€35m) they received for Cillessen in the previous financial year to help balance their accounts, and put the £31m (€35m) outlay on Neto in the following year's accounting. Similar deals may become common place.

Barcelona supporters are scratching their heads why the club might sign Miralem Pjanic when they already have major over-booking in midfield. But if Juventus take a midfielder off of them – even if it's 23-year-old talent Arthur – and give them some money too then it helps Barcelona financially.

Barcelona supporters are scratching their heads why the club might sign Miralem Pjanic
Arthur Melo could head to Juventus if Barcelona are given the right price

Miralem Pjanic (left) plus cash could be offered to Barcelona for midfielder Arthur Melo (right)

Likewise there is a dearth of full-backs at the club. Nelson Semedo hasn't been a big success but selling him could still be questioned because of the lack of alternatives. It doesn't matter – if he is the player who has the potential buyers then he could leave.

The end game for Barcelona is that they then end up with the money to make a big signing. Neymar or Lautaro Martinez are the options. The latter is far more likely unless Antoine Griezmann can be persuaded to swap places with the Brazilian in Paris.

For Madrid the biggest problem is reducing a squad that will be 36 players-strong if everyone comes back from their loan spells. Marco Asensio is fit again and that gives Zinedine Zidane seven wingers. If he plays 4-3-3 that means five players sitting things out every week.

Last season the club tried to sell Bale but the only suitor prepared to offer him the same wages he was earning at Madrid was Jiangsu Suning. The Chinese club were not prepared to pay Madrid more than a minimal transfer fee and, after first agreeing to the move, Real Madrid then blocked it.

James Rodriguez may be allowed to leave for nothing as he enters the final year of his contract

James Rodriguez may be allowed to leave for nothing as he enters the final year of his contract

Bale leaving on a free must be considered because it'd rid Real of one of their highest earners

Bale leaving on a free must be considered because it'd rid Real of one of their highest earners

In a similar scenario this summer it seems unlikely they would act in the same way. And with Rodriguez there may be even less resistance to him leaving for nothing as he approaches the final year of his contract.

Madrid's income runs at around £726m (€820m) with £250m (€283m) of that needed to pay the wage bill. With income likely to suffer a shortfall of around £146m (€165m) then money spent on salaries has to come down.

What would have been unthinkable before – letting players such as Bale and James go for free – must now be considered because it would free the club of two of the highest earners.

The big two are not alone in all this. Atletico Madrid have the wages of the world's highest earning coach Diego Simeone to pay and repayments to Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim's company Inbursa for the loan that helped them build their impressive new stadium.

Atletico Madrid have the wages of the world’s highest earning coach Diego Simeone to pay

Atletico Madrid have the wages of the world's highest earning coach Diego Simeone to pay

Atletico's Saul Niguez can be added to the list of Barcelona and Real Madrid ‘saleable assets’

Atletico's Saul Niguez can be added to the list of Barcelona and Real Madrid 'saleable assets'

Valencia are still struggling to sell their Mestalla stadium for redevelopment, which is in turn hampering the completion of the new one. And both those sides are currently out of the lucrative Champions League places.

The names of Atletico Madrid midfielders Thomas Partey and Saul Niguez and Valencia's brilliant young winger Ferran Torres can be added to the list of Barcelona and Real Madrid 'saleable assets'.

LaLiga continues to make strides towards restarting the season on June 12. But even if they manage to finish this campaign, they know that the next one will be very different and that the great Spanish football sales might have to start sooner rather than later.

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