La Liga tells Barcelona that they still can’t register any new players.
La Liga tells Barcelona: Even though Joan Laporta tried hard, Barcelona still can’t sign their new players because they don’t meet the strict financial rules of La Liga. Barcelona has pulled three economic levers so far, and even though they have raised almost €868 million, the league has told the Catalan giants that they still need to do more.
Barcelona still can’t register any new players!
Tariq Panja of the New York Times says that Laporta said their wage bill was at €551 million and needed to be cut, but it has gone up instead. So the only way for the Camp Nou team to move forward right now is to pull the fourth lever and sell players like Frenkie de Jong and Memphis Depay to cut the wage bill.
Barca is in constant contact with La Liga officials, who have told them that Robert Lewandowski, Jules Koundé, Franck Kessie, Andreas Christensen, and Raphinha could not be registered at this time. As a result, not only the new players, but also Ousmane Dembélé and Sergi Roberto, who just renewed their contracts, cannot be signed up.
FDJ sale key
As part of the fourth step, another 24.5 percent of Barca Studios will be sold for €100 million. Even so, that won’t be enough, and the La Liga team knows it needs to cut its huge wage bill. Player sales are a must, and De Jong is the most valuable player they can sell. If he were sold, it would bring in about €85 million; if Depay were sold, it would bring in over €100 million.
Martin Braithwaite and Samuel Umtiti, among others, have been told that they are no longer needed and told to find new teams. As has been said before, Barcelona has given De Jong an ultimatum: either cut his wages or talk with Chelsea or Manchester United.
Xavi wants all seven players to be ready for the start of the league on August 13, and Laporta will try to work his magic before then. But they still have time until August 31, which is the last day to sign up for any official competition. So it’s likely that a deal will be made for De Jong to go to either United or Chelsea before then. Reports say that Chelsea is getting closer to winning the race, but United and Barcelona have already agreed on a price.