Barcelona Passes Real Madrid As La Liga's Biggest-Spending Club

Barcelona has overtaken rival Real Madrid as the biggest spenders in La Liga, per data released on Tuesday.

Barcelona have overtaken rivals Real Madrid as the biggest spenders in La Liga, per data released on Tuesday.

According to the figures published by the Spanish league, the Catalan side have €507million (£448m) available with which to pay their players' wages.

Madrid, meanwhile, have a cap of £442m, which puts Barcelona ahead of them in the spending category for the first time since the introduction of centralised television rights in Spain.

The salary caps for La Liga clubs are directly linked to their total income, and measures have been set to ensure that sides do not overspend. The budget covers player wages, bonuses and also coaching staff salaries.

La Liga Wage Caps

Club	Wage Cap
Barcelona	£448m
Real Madrid	£442m
Atletico Madrid	£210m
Sevilla	£141m
Valencia	£100m
Villareal	£78m
Athletic Bilbao	£60m
Real Betis	£58m
Real Sociedad	£57m
Espanyol	£54m
Malaga	£47m
Celta Vigo	£36m
Deportivo	£36m
Alaves	£33m
Leganes	£30m
Eibar	£29m
Levante	£28m
Girona	£27m
Las Palmas	£26m
Getafe	£25m

Table courtesy Daily Mail.

Barca's increased wage budget was significantly decreased by their selling of Neymar to Paris Saint-Germain this summer. The Brazilian was on a £26.5m-a-year salary, but the club no longer have him on their books.

The Catalan giants have made a great start to their season, even without Neymar, but they have lost his replacement, Ousmane Dembele, for the next three-and-a-half months. The Frenchman successfully completed surgery on a ruptured biceps femoris on Tuesday, but is likely to be out for the rest of the year.