After "many months of doubts," an agreement on Barcelona's shirt sponsorship deal with Qatar Airways "is practically a reality," according to Moisés Llorens of AS. The "only thing left is to make it official." The club "is working with its game calendar" to see when to officially confirm the deal. This could happen on July 25, when a meeting of club President Josep María Bartomeu's board is scheduled. During that meeting, "club execs are expected to be informed of how the deal was reached with the Qatar government and how the amount of money that Barcelona will receive" -- around €40M ($44.3M) -- was agreed upon. That sum is "far" from the €65M that Bartomeu last year promised members the club would receive.
AMAZON DEAL NEXT?: After the '16-17 season, Amazon "could be the sponsor on the front of the Barça shirt for the next four years." Execs from both companies "have for some time been discussing some aspects to polish, but everything indicates that the contracts are already being drawn up." Barcelona sources said, "We will see how it all ends up, but it looks good." Those sources also said that the contract with Amazon "may not reach" €60M ($66.4M) per season (AS, 7/17).
THE PRICE OF GOALS: In Madrid, Ramiro Aldunate reported over the past decade, Barcelona has "had to pay the most money in transfer fees out of all of Europe's top teams, in terms of per goal scored," according to a Marca study that dates back to the '06-07 season. In comparing the cost of each goal by new arrivals at the continent's top clubs over the past decade, "it works out" that Barça has had to pay over €1M ($1.11M) in transfer fees per goal. Real Madrid, meanwhile, has had to pay just €415,981 ($460,000) for "each time the ball has hit the back of the net -- which is the second best return, behind Bayern Munich, of the eight teams being compared." Bayern Munich has paid €335,000 ($370,000) per goal, with the clubs getting the best returns after Bayern and Real Madrid being -- in order -- Atlético Madrid, Paris St. Germain, Chelsea, ManU, Man City and Barcelona (MARCA, 7/17). Links to other Marca graphics illustrating what clubs have paid per goal are available here.
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| Source: Marca |
* Note: The burgundy lines show millions spent (in euros) per goal, the green shows the money (in euros) spent on signings and the gray shows the total goals.
