Eduard Romeu, key to activating Barça's 'levers'

In March 2021, FC Barcelona announced the departure of Jaume Giró as economic vice president of the club. Giró stepped down from his post before Joan Laporta began his second term as president and, in his place, the top culé leader put Eduard Romeu Barceló, who is also vice president of the company Audax Renovables. Since then, Romeu has become one of the key men in the Blaugrana board, so much so that he spends most of the week in the club's offices.

In that sense, the person in charge of the economic vice-presidency was one of the few directors who did not travel with the team to the tour of the United States. In total, a delegation of 164 club members (Barça coaches, footballers, managers, family members and employees) is on North American soil at the moment. In the meantime. Romeu is working on activating the financial 'levers' promised by the board for this summer.

This week, the club made official the sale of an additional 15% of LaLiga's television rights for the next 25 years with the US investment group Sixth Street. This operation will leave around 350 million euros in cash, an amount with which the club hopes to finance another couple of signings for 2022-23 and finish cleaning up the finances this summer to be able to register the reinforcements.

Likewise, Romeu is fully working on activating a third 'lever' that has to do with the sale of 49.9% of Barça Studios, the club's audiovisual production company. This new operation will also leave nearly 300 'kilos' in the Catalan coffers, enough to get out of the current crisis. With all this, the board hopes to restore the enthusiasm of the fans with a squad that is competitive enough to once again dominate Spanish football, just as the club was able to do in the last decade.

The 'classical economy', Eduard Romeu's business philosophy

Since his arrival at Barça, the businessman has recommended that Laporta follow a fundamental criterion of 'classical economics' to get out of the financial crisis: reduce expenses and increase income. To do this, the club has been leaving assets that represented an investment greater than the profits they generated, reinvesting this capital in the purchase of players that enhance the sports project led by Xavi Hernández. While Laporta does marketing in the United States, Romeu works from home. This is how the new Blaugrana directive works.