Barcelona legend Gerard Piqué warned the club not to mislead its fans and encouraged the club to be open and transparent about its situation.
Barça exceeds its annual spending limit imposed by LaLiga of 204 million euros by about 200 million euros ($217 million), which prevents it from registering possible new signings or contract renewals in the league.
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On the field they are eight points behind LaLiga leaders, Real Madrid, and have been eliminated from the Copa del Rey and the Spanish Super Cup since the beginning of the year.
They are still in the Champions League and the second leg of the round of 16 against Napoli will be played next week, but Piqué is not convinced that things will go well in the short term.
“The fans want honesty and transparency,” said the former Barça centre-back on Ibai Llanos' Twitch channel.
“If reality is harsh, then say it. What you can't do is sell smoke and mirrors and say we're going to win the Champions League if you don't then have the money to compete.
“I don't know the situation of the club at the moment, from what I can understand it doesn't seem that good, but what is the situation.” partners [members] The value is being told the truth to their face.”
A great positive for Barça this season has been the emergence of young talents such as Lamine Yamal, Pau Cubarsí and Fermín López from the quarry.
Piqué, who retired at the end of 2022, believes fans would understand if president Joan Laporta said the club would focus on local players while it recovers financially.
“If you say 'look, we don't have a penny to spend, so for the next two or three years we will turn to La Masia', people will accept it,” he said.
“The message should be that we have confidence in the quarry, that there are good players with a lot of talent. Bring them and try to compete for LaLiga.
“What you can't do is say 'I'm going to sign.' [Erling] Haaland', which looks great, but how do you do it? I'm just using Haaland as an example, it has nothing to do with rumors. I could also say [Kylian] Mbappé or whoever.”
