Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu has confessed that no club has felt the financial affects of coronavirus more than the Catalan giants.
The Spanish giants have continued to invest heavily and have a mammoth wage bill while plans to develop the Nou Camp have been hampered.
Bartomeu claims that the club have not received any financial windfall since Covid-19 first sent European countries into lockdown back in March.
And the 57-year-old expects the fallout from the pandemic to go on well beyond the summer.
“We saw that there was a pandemic worldwide and said that it would be a complex summer with swap deals, and that’s what is happening,” Bartomeu told Mundo Deportivo .
“Since March 14 we have not received a euro. We have missed out on €200 million (£182m/$233m). €200m!
“We have recovered a lot by reducing wages and using ERTE’s (Temporary Employment Regulation File, with the government paying 70 per cent of wages).
“We have had to close the shops and the museum, there have been no ticket sales. We have paid back the ticket money for matches fans couldn’t attend. €200m is a big blow.
“This pandemic will have effects for two or three seasons. Nobody should think that things will be fixed by next season. The great financial gurus talk about four years, but I think football will go faster.”
Barcelona will have presidential elections next summer where Bartomeu could face competition from Joan Laporta - the man who hired Pep Guardiola.
The Catalans have struggled over the past year and tensions continue to mount with Lionel Messi even raising his voice and calling out club chiefs.
Ernesto Valverde was sacked with Barcelona top of La Liga and his replacement Quique Setien has not been able to bring about change.
Messi has already called for change if they do not want to exit the Champions League against Napoli next month.
