Barcelona Takes Out Loan To Pay Players' Wages, But Can Still Buy Players

Barcelona failed to pay their players at the end of June, and have needed to take out a loan to do so. 

Club president Sandro Rosell, who succeeded Joan Laportalast week, said a loan of about £125 million had been secured to pay wages at the financially troubled Catalan.

"We found a club in debt, with liquidity problems. At this point we have to take a loan to pay the wages of the players," he said.

Even though they are suffering from money problems, Rosell said Barca can still somehow afford Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas.

Barcelona recently sold defender Dmitro Chygrynskiy to Shakhtar Donetsk for around £12.5 million. This was to help raise much-needed funds, even though they were keen to keep him at the club.

They also sold Yaya Toure to Manchester City for about £20 million.

Rosell tried to reassure the fans by saying the club's money was under control. "The banks know that we have a business plan that will allow them to recover the money. The club is not bankrupt because it generates income."

"The members shouldn't be afraid because it is under control. We must resolve this tension...It can be done in two ways: to have extra income, like selling Chygrynskiy, and/or taking a loan, which is what we have done."

"The previous board had already begun this process. We followed the same path—the same banks, the same target but with a different business plan. They [Laporta's board] also knew they needed this credit."

As well as going for Fabregas, Rosell even claimed that more than 50 million euros can be used to buy new players. 

Despite their money woes, the Spanish giants have been after Arsenal star Fabregas for a while, and have recently signed Spanish striker David Villa from Valencia.

Rosell is going to meet Arsene Wenger in South Africa to discuss the player.

"It's now or never. We'll do it fast. It won't be protracted," said Rosell. "I'll try to see Wenger in South Africa, then we'll tell you what happens... We would not pay the 50-60 million euros that I have read about."

It looked like Barcelona where going down the route of Portsmouth. Running out of money and not paying players wages. But according to Rosell, the club is fine and still has a large transfer budget.

But they didn't pay the players' wages. Is Rosell telling us everything?