Barcelona ‘run out of money’ and request funds to complete £1.3bn Nou Camp renovations

All construction work on the Nou Camp has reportedly stopped as Barcelona have run out of money.

Work commenced following the 2022/23 season, with hopes that the team would be ready to return to their iconic arena 17 months later.

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However, it took more than two years for the Catalan team to return home with the £1.3bn renovation still ongoing.

They played at the 55,000-seater Olympic Stadium on the city’s Montjuic hill during most of the construction.

Barca were also forced to play two matches at the 6,000 capacity Johan Cruyff Stadium after failing to obtain a safety permit.

The Spanish club did eventually return to the Nou Camp in November, with a reduced capacity of 45,401.

It was hoped all construction work would be completed by now, however, the timeline has been pushed back.

According to Spanish outlet Marca, the Barcelona hierarchy need more money to finish their project.

They were initially loaned £1.25billion from financial company Goldman Sachs and have almost exhausted their allocated amount.

The first step of the build was successfully completed and allowed Barcelona to expand the stadium’s capacity to 62,657.

The phase currently being worked on is the redevelopment of the two VIP tiers and the third tier.

Additionally, the final stage is the refurbishment of the roof.

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Not only was the stadium being updated, but also the surrounding areas, including the homes for the club’s basketball and futsal teams.

Club president Joan Laporta is expected to ask for a bigger loan to ensure the entire venue will be fully updated.

They will have to wait for the Barcelona City Council to schedule future parts of the project.

The La Liga champions have requested to use the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys as a precaution for the 2027/28 campaign.

Lingering financial troubles

Despite being the best team in Spain for three of the last four campaigns, the Catalan-based outfit still confront significant financial issues.

After the club’s previous president, Josep Maria Bartomeu, sustained massive amounts of losses, the situation is slowly improving.

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Laporta has previously spoken about Barca’s financial ruin: “The first thing we had to do when we arrived was to request a loan of 80 million euros because if not, we could not pay the payroll.

“We also found that we had to carry out urgent repair works at the Camp Nou, if we didn’t, the people visiting the stadium would be at risk.”

However, waiting for revenue to increase from the opening of the new stadium will not help the immediate situation.

Barca have a group of current players whose contracts come to an end in 2028.

This includes Raphinha, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Gerard Martin, Alejandro Balde, and Marc Casado, with the hierarchy needing to secure new signatures or offload the players before their transfer value diminishes.

Also, they are still under spending restrictions from LaLiga and need to transfer players out to bring anyone new in.

Barcelona have recently signed Anthony Gordon for £70m and are still keen on signing Julian Alvarez and Marcus Rashford.