Barcelona: "From riches to rags" in half a decade

In the light of current events, Spanish Marca did a brief analysis of the tight situation Barcelona is in at the moment and what might have lead to it.

And it starts on June the 5th, 2015. It was a huge day for Barcelona as they won the Champions League under Luis Enrique to complete a stunning treble including the LaLiga Santander title and the Copa del Rey. More than five years have passed since that unforgettable moment for Barcelona fans and the club has gone from comfortably sitting on the throne of European football, to facing a huge financial and sporting crisis.

At the epicentre of it all has been the club's former president, Josep Bartomeu who was arrested on Monday morning for his alleged relation to the Barcagate scandal of last February. Bartomeu was elected president of Barcelona a few days after the Catalan side lifted the Champions League trophy and since then, the team have not managed to reach such heigths.

Before the elections, the previous board, with Bartomeu himself at the helm, had closed a sponsorship agreement with Qatar Airways. Struck by the Champions League success, Bartomeu was willing to renegotiate the agreement with the intention to get an even better deal. However, no agreement was reached and Barcelona's partnership with Qatar ceased to exist. Meanwhile, at sporting level, the Blaugrana spent several millions of euros to sign players such as Arda Turan, Aleix Vidal, Lucas Digne, Paco Alcacer, Andre Gomes and Samuel Umtiti, none of whom managed to stand out. At the same time, Bartomeu offered new big-money deals to players such as Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets, Gerard Pique and Luis Suarez. As a result, Barcelona became the club with the highest wage bill in European football and the entity which has been dealt the hardest blow during the COVID-19 pandemic. The final blow came in the summer of 2017 when PSG, a club owned by Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), snatched Neymar after triggering the Brazilian forward's buyout clause. Barcelona earned a large sum for Neymar's move but, once again, failed to invest properly, signing Ousmane Dembele and Philippe Coutinho, none of whom managed to fill the Brazilian's void.

What time is it? It's Neymar's injury time

Meanwhile, Real Madrid went on to win three Champions League trophies in a row and Barcelona would face disastrous eliminations at the hands of Roma and Liverpool. One year after becoming Barcelona's president, Bartomeu saw the club pleading guilty to two crimes against the tax agency derived from the signing of Neymar. Both former Barcelona presidents Sandro Rosell and Bartomeu were proven not guilty but the club's image was seriously damaged.

More than disgrace: Barca's ex-president arrested!

The last scandal he has been involved is that of the Barcagate, where he is accused of hiring a PR company to damage the reputation of certain people and entities with club funds. Before departing Barcelona, he had also managed to sour his relationship with several players, including Lionel Messi. The Argentine criticised Bartomeu through an interview for Goal.com, complaining that the former Barcelona president had lied to him on numerous occasions. Last summer, Messi asked to be released by the club and he has yet to reach an agreement, with his current dealing running until June.

Sociedad helps Atletico and Barca by tripping Los Blancos

Another issue that hit Barca - reports have begun to emerge detailing the updated salary caps for each team in LaLiga Santander following the January transfer window. Alongside Barcelona, each of Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Real Betis have seen their salary caps lowered since the end of the summer transfer window. In findings from Cope and Radio MARCA, Real Madrid's has shrunk the most by 58 million USD (6.3 billion KSH) to 505 million USD, while Barcelona's is down 42 million USD (4.6 billion KSH) to 417 million USD and Atletico's is down 40 million USD (4.4 billion KSH) to 262 million USD. As a result of these new caps, the clubs who have seen their limits reduced will have to find a way of cutting their wage bill in the coming months.

Other clubs to have seen their caps fall are Athletic Club, Real Sociedad, Villarreal, Elche, Celta Vigo, Real Valladolid, Granada, Eibar and Huesca. Of the remaining teams, Valencia, Celta Vigo, Osasuna, Cadiz, Alaves and Levante have seen their caps raised, while Getafe's has stayed relatively the same.

The new salary caps are expected to be officially announced by LaLiga on Tuesday, when they will also announce losses of one billion euros for the 2020/21 season. These numbers, plus the lack of movement from LaLiga clubs during the January transfer window, lays bare the impact of the coronavirus crisis on Spanish football's finances.