Penny-pinching Barca cut back on office supplies in bid to ink £35m Fabregas deal

By Sportsmail Reporter
Updated: 13:07 EDT, 26 June 2011

Debt-ridden Barcelona have resorted to extreme measures to try and cough up the £35million Arsenal are demanding for their captain Cesc Fabregas.

President Sandro Rosell revealed the club, who are £400m in the red, have cut back on office supplies in a bizarre attempt to try and save some cash.

Strapped for cash: Barcelona have cut back on office supplies

Rosell told Catalunya's TV3: 'By being austere, hard and losing friends we removed the catering events, our bodyguards, and we have even stopped making photocopies in colour at the club. Now we do black and white and save on toner.'

The drastic measures taken to cut back on spending come as the club continue to chase the big-money signings of Fabregas and Manchester City and Chelsea target Alexis Sanchez.

Rosell is confident that the barmy cuts have had the desired affect and revealed that Barca have £40m to spend on players to ensure they keep ahead of their rivals.

But with Sanchez likely to command a fee of at least £38m they will need to raise over £30m more to afford both signings - that's a lot of ink.

As a result, the club may have to sell some of their Champions League-winning squad.

A lot of ink: Cesc Fabregas (left) and Alexis Sanchez (right) would cost a combined total of over £70m

He admitted: 'I am concerned about the club's economic sustainability. We have to balance the books.'

Rosell said: 'We have sorted out the situation and what the economic area has achieved means we have €45m (£40m) to spend on transfers this summer plus sales.'