It seems that the financial crisis afflicting Barcelona, Spain, has affected other sectors within the Catalan club, which forced the administration headed by Joan Laporta to stop its cooperation with many companies that provide various services to the youth and youth category.
And the Spanish “Relevo” website confirmed that Barcelona’s reserve team, which is coached by Mexican Rafael Marquez, will not be able to eat lunch at the La Masia Academy headquarters.
And the site stated that the Barcelona reserve players used to eat breakfast daily at the club’s headquarters, after which the training session begins, and after that some players stay for lunch, and some of them return to their home on the grounds that it is not obligatory, and accordingly the club decided to stop it as “unjustified expenses.” .
© Confirmats els capitans del Barça Athletic 23/24!
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2 ⃣ @mohita_6
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4 ⃣ @marcvidal25🔗 https://t.co/P9xxEe8jCy#ForçaBarca 💙❤ pic.twitter.com/t2TydHxgcP
– Barça Athletic (@FCBarcelonaB) August 22, 2023
Barcelona had hired a specialized company to provide this service. But due to the current economic situation and in addition to the fact that most players return to their homes after training; The club decided to put an end to this privilege. It is a step that comes within the club’s policy of cuts, with the aim of reducing expenses, according to Relevo.
The Spanish site indicated that coach Rafael Marquez prefers that the players return to their homes after the end of the morning training session in order to eat lunch with their families and rest before returning to the club for the evening training session.
Things did not stop at this point, as the Barcelona administration also decided to cancel the contract with taxis that transport young players and players of the younger age groups to the training headquarters and replace them with buses, a step that angered the people, according to what the Spanish newspaper “Sport” confirmed.
She explained that the parents’ anger stemmed from the fact that the club changed the conditions they agreed upon with them when they signed for Barcelona, in addition to the fact that many of them will not be able to accompany their children to the gathering points announced by “Barca”.
👏 Així ha set the primer entrenament de @PauVictorDelga1
⚽️ Los de la primera session de Pau Victor with the Barca Athletic#ForçaBarca 💙❤️ pic.twitter.com/gzrIbcbDXY
– Barça Athletic (@FCBarcelonaB) August 18, 2023
And Barcelona sent a message to the players’ families, saying, “We would like to inform you of the change in the transportation plan for the 2023-2024 season. The club decided to transport the players by buses through 5 gathering points in various regions of Catalonia. The drivers will stop several times along the way to take the players to training and bring them back to the same point they picked up from. Once training is over, you can choose the place that suits you best.”
According to the newspaper, Barcelona has stopped the taxi service that it has been keen to provide to its players for more than 25 years.
And Barcelona had decided in April 2023 to close the club’s TV channel, which costs approximately 14 million euros annually; This became a reality in late June of the same year and led to the layoffs of 100 employees.
