It was expected that, economically, last season would be one of the best in Barça's history.

Toni Frieros

An absolute record of income - over 660 million euros, 30 more than budgeted for - a spectacular surplus of around 30 million and a return to equity balance dictated in the statutes of the club.

Everything went as planned and it even led to Josep Maria Bartomeu stating in his press appearance on June 30 that the Blaugrana could afford to go a year without a sponsor on the shirt.

It was when he confirmed this news at the time that SPORT revealed that Barça had two offers on the table - alongside Qatar Airways - from two multinational companies (one allegedly American and the other Chinese).

STOMACH BLOW

However, all this climate of optimism and prosperity has soon turned to unrest, as the club must refund the sale of the Can Rigalt land and return 47 million euros to the group 'La Llave de Ora'.

This must be imputed in the 2015/16 financial year and is compulsory and mandatory to include this deal in the audit before closing the accounts.

It will not be exactly 47 million that will be included in the losses section, as the club has provisioned seven million to cover the commitment to develop the whole of Can Rigalt. The current value of the land should also be deducted from the figure.

Barça have no choice but to mobilise all assets at its disposal to continue to grow its revenues. It's another method to eliminate another of the latent risks in which the entity is involved: a return to the default debt ratio that has plagued the statues of the club and that were violated last season.

ESPAI BARÇA

Meanwhile, Barça have been working to reduce net debt that has fallen by 102 million euros since the arrival of Sandro Rosell as club president in 2010 until the end of the 2015/16 season.

Because of FIFA sanctions last season the club were forced to invest heavily in the transfer market and debt, rather than decreasing, increased from 287 to 328 million. The Blaugrana also feared that the failure of Can Rigalt would cause the debt to widen further.

In any case, Barça won't launch its new flagship complex - the Espai Barça - with the new majestic Camp Nou remodelling until net debt is situated at 200 million euros. And that, by the end of 2017, seems almost impossible, so it's to be assumed that the project will start a little later than planned.

The club are, however, firm in their belief that no star players will be sold in order to reduce the debt levels.