Barcelona Set to Present a Record Budget of €897m to Assembly of Members Next Month

La Liga supremos Barcelona are set to present a record budget of €897m to the Assembly of Members, per Marca.

The club's board will meet with said assembly on October 21 or 22 in the Palau Blaugrana to seek the final approval for the sum. The date will be confirmed as soon as it's decided when their match against Malaga will be played.

Club president Josep Maria Bartomeu had promised a budget of €1,000m by the end of his tenure, so the whopping figure should come as no surprise.

Bartomeu's position at Barca, though, is under threat. Former election candidate Agusti Benedito recently filed a motion of no confidence against the club's board and has since collected a total of 7,278 signatures from members from the two home fixtures that have been played out since the lodging of the motion.

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Benedito garnered 2,920 signatures during the Catalan derby against Espanyol last weekend, and a further 3,360 were collected during the Champions League win over Juventus on Tuesday.

There rest were collected at permanent stalls set up by the former candidate. And speaking at a press conference on Thursday, he expressed confidence in his campaign.

"On Oct. 2, Barca will accept the 17,000 or 18,000 signatures that we will deliver. I have no doubts," he said. "We are totally convinced that Saturdays are not working days -- our legal team and third party legal teams have recognised as much.

"Hopefully, the board present their resignation before Nov. 1. I think they are worried, they don't have any direction, you can tell with [president Josep Maria] Bartomeu. That's why they've created so many obstacles."

Benedito will need to submit at least 16,570 by October 2 in order to trigger the referendum. The next big opportunity to hoard more signatures will be on Tuesday when Barca host Eibar, and following that will be another home affair against Las Palmas on October 1.