Barca, from the highest salary cap to having the same as Spurs and Milan

This current transfer window is becoming of Barcelona's most complicated for decades. The club which won everything and became the envy of all of Europe then squandered their prestige and fortune in a few seasons under awful management. With Laporta back in charge, the club looks to get back to what they once were.

In just two years, Barca went from being the team with the highest wage cap on the planet to one which, while they still remain among the elite, find themselves among the two least powerful sides in recent years - Tottenham and Milan.

The pandemic has been devistating for those at the Catalan club, although other big names in Spain have suffered from the same drastic setback in income. Namely, their long-standing rivals Real Madrid, who have seen their income notably reduced in recent times.

According to 'The Athletic', the forecause for Barcelona's salary cap for this season is around 160 million euros. This new figure represents a huge reduction from the amount they boasted in the 2019/20 campaign, which stood at 671 million.

Real Madrid haven't saved themselves from the crisis either, although they have weathered the storm a lot better, partly as a result of their 15% reduction on salaries as well as removing bonuses for winning La Liga and the Spanish Super Cup in 2019/20. Those in the Spanish capital had a salary cap of 641 million euros, which looks to become 300 million for this season.

Milan, once one of Europe's greats and who are looking to recover their lost glory, boast a cap of 163.5 million euros, a higher figure than that of Barcelona. The same can be said for Spanish champions Atletico Madrid, who possess a larger cap for the first time in a decade.

Luckily, a study from Deloitte confirmed that Barca continue to be the number one club on the planet in terms of revenue stream, alongside Real Madrid. Thus, for the two big clubs, all is far from lost for the future. It is just a matter of them being able to adapt to the new reality, adjust their salaries and wait for the good times to come back. Barca took in 715 million euros in 2020 an Madrid 692 million, both of whom were far above Manchester United in fourth with 580 million.

That being said, the losses on Barca's most recent assessment were practically double those of Real Madrid (172 million compared to 99 million). The same can be said for the last three terms combined, which are triple those of 'Los Blancos'.

Those at the Camp Nou continue to carry the burden of trying to pay back the debts accumulated from the signings of Griezmann, Dembele and Courtinho, although they're not much better in the Spanish capital. The big-money moves for Hazard and Jovic are yet to be fully repaid.

The short-term solution will involve offloading the players' huge salaries. Real Madrid didn't renew Sergio Ramos' contract and are close to selling Raphael Varane for the same reason, in another summer that looks to be limited in terms of transfers in to the club. Barcelona have focused on bringing in players on free transfers and have released themselves of Todibo, Junior Firpo, Konrad and Trincao. They also want to offload Umtiti and Pjanic while Messi's contract renewal remains in the air, although most people believe it to be practically case closed.

In any case, despite the moderate excitement over the signings of Aguero, Depay, Emerson and Eric Garcia, the cold reality is that Barcelona have gone from buying Griezmann and De Jong for over 200 million euros, to having to implement a brutal salary reduction in the space of barely two seasons. A factor that is impossible not to notice in their performances on the pitch.