MADRID: Barcelona have announced a loss of €97m after tax for the 2019-20 financial year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, while a projected estimate of breaking the one billion euro mark in revenues also collapsed.

The Catalan club also said in a statement here on Monday that they had made revenue of 855 million euros, 14% down on the 990 million they posted in 2018/19, while their overall net debt has more than doubled to 488 million euros.

Some €47m loss was due to lost matchday revenue, €35m to reduced club shop sales and €18m on stadium tours, with further losses expected until fans can return to stadiums in Spain. Predicted revenue for 2020-21 is €791m.

The players took a wage cut in order to help combat the deficit while football was suspended due to the coronavirus.

Barcelona have also sold players who were on lucrative contracts, such as Luis Suarez, Ivan Rakitic and Arturo Vidal, in the close season in a bid to bring salary expenditure within La Liga guidelines, which directly relate to projected income.

This has also meant a fairly quiet transfer window for new coach Ronald Koeman, with local media saying Olympique Lyonnais’ Dutch forward Memphis Depay could only join if they sold forward Ousmane Dembele, who has been linked to Manchester United.

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