There won’t be much left of “Mes que un club” once this transfer window is said and done. Barcelona has just sold another 25% of Barca Studios to third party investors to free up salary capital in order to register their summer signings.
I really don’t understand Barcelona’s EXTREME short sightedness when it comes to all of these signings and sell offs. Doesn’t Joan Laporta realize that he’s not getting the 30-35% of Barcelona Studios back from these dodgy crypto and NFT “companies” (if I can even call them a company; in my opinion, they’re really more like scams)?
The Barca name that has inspired millions upon millions of poor, disfranchised football fans around the world to strive for a better future will now be used to sell (scammy) NFTs, Fan Tokens, and play-to-earn games.
Don’t believe me? Here’s an Socios.com (the company Barca just sold 25% of Barca Studios) spokesperson speaking to Forbes saying just what I said:
“In the same way that there is now a clear appetite for content beyond matchday broadcasting, we will also witness a vast increase in the demand for club-related products and services online and in the metaverse, including Fan Tokens, NFTs, play-to-earn games and other digital assets.” (Socios.com Spokesperson)
This transaction feels so scammy and grubby that I don’t even want to think about the kind of damage it’ll bring to Barca’s reputation when someone eventually gets scammed by these crypto currencies (it’s only a matter of time).
But, hey, as long as Barca can get one more surplus signing, it’ll all be worth it. Right, Joan?
With the club already selling $500M of its future La Liga T.V. rights, along with a large chunk of Barca Studios, I just can’t see a world where the old, “Mes que un club” Barca can come back.
I fear the days of Barcelona being self-sufficient are dead.
Now is the time of the dreaded cooperate takeovers that will plague the Catalonian giant forever.
If I was a Barcelona fan, I’d be horrified by the direction Joan Laporta is taking this storied club. He’s selling the very soul of what made Barcelona “more than a club” by licensing off different pieces of the organization.
I get that Barca fans want to win now, but that is just unrealistic. No club can be dominate at every single year.
There needs to be regrowth and retooling in order to sustain long-term success. Buying aging, questionable stars for huge fees at the cost of the very essence of the club will only bring disaster. And it already has for Barca under the Ronald Koeman era.
That very fact was the sole reason why Lio Messi was forced out of the club. They simply didn’t have the money to pay him as they had to use it on Phillipe Coutinho, Samuel Umtiti, Clement Lenglet, Martin Braithwaite, etc.
What I don’t understand is why the Barca fans just “going along” with Laporta’s obvious job-saving antics. If he really wanted to see Barcelona succeed in the future, he’d promote more academy players into the first team. What club has a better youth set-up than Barca?
It’s not like La Masia was the academy that produced Pep Guardiola, Pedro, Victor Valdes, Jordi Alba, Andrea Iniesta, Xavi, Sergio Busquets, Carlos Puyol, and Lionel Messi himself.
Sure, they may only manage to get 3rd or 4th in La Liga for a few seasons, but that is still good enough for the time being. Coming in 2nd or 4th really doesn’t matter when both spots earn the club a place into the Champions League and hundreds of millions of euros from just simply qualifying.
Plus, that is the only way the youth of Barcelona will be able to learn and develop into global superstars. They need game time and experience.
Barca needs to promote its youth, not aging global superstars, if it wants to get back to the club’s heights of the 2000’s and 2010’s.
Selling off pieces of the club to mosquito-esque entities will only doom Barcelona further.
Images Source: Featured Image: (Wikimedia Creative Commons License/Author: Börkur Sigurbjörnsson) (Original Source: F C B | Börkur Sigurbjörnsson | Flickr)
Other Sources: (Forbes) (What Is Barca Studios? The Allure Of FC Barcelona’s Moonshot (forbes.com))
