Barcelona are running a race against time to sign their new players for this season. Los Blaugrana signed Robert Lewandwski, Raphinha and Jules Kounde for around €150 million.
It has been a funny summer. A summer characterized by free transfers, big name transfers and the labours of some clubs in the market is in vain. In all, player power is now a thing, and clubs have to find a way around the issue of players being in the position to dictate if they stay or leave a club.
So far, none of the players Los Blaugrana signed this summer have been certified for the upcoming season.
Barcelona can’t register their players
Last season was a curious one for FC Barcelona. The return of Joan Laporta revealed a massive hole in the finances of the Catalan giants.
The rot was so deep that there were talks of the Spanish giants going into administration. It led to the loss of Lionel Messi and the inability of the five-time Champions League winners struggling to register some of their players.
Barcelona are back to square one. They lost Lionel Messi to Paris Saint-Germain last season but were able to work some magic and sign several players this season, including a new contract for Ousmane Dembele. If signing those players was as easy as selling a part of their assets, the trick is registering them to play this season.
Recent reports suggest the Catalan giants are up a creek without a paddle as they strive to register their new players. At the moment, Barcelona have not registered Robert Lewandowski and the other signings made this summer. Without La Liga kicking off in less than a week, Barcelona are in a race against time to register the players.
Levers and registration
Barcelona acted like a kid with a free pass in a candy store. They went gung-ho and signed players even richer clubs were afraid to sign. Robert Lewandowski headlines their summer transfer activities but is at risk of not being registered for the new season. Barcelona plays Rayo Vallecano in their opening game of the season.
Despite the weight of the massive debts on their shoulders, Barcelona still shelled out €150 million this summer in bolstering their squads. Apart from Franck Kessie and Andreas Christensen, who arrived at the Nou Camp on free transfers, the monies went into the signing of Raphinha, Lewandowski and Jules Kounde. Ousmane Dembele and Sergi Roberto also signed new contracts.
Barcelona sold 25 per cent of their domestic television rights for the next 25 years. The sale came in two separate deals to investment company Sixth Street, raising over €500m. They also sold 25% of in-house production company Barça Studios to Socios.com for around €100m.
Despite the sale of their assets, La Liga have informed Barcelona that they would not be able to register their shiny new toys for the season.
There are questions over the documentation on the player signings, but Laporta insists that there may be some disparities. He claims Barcelona have done things well and met all the requirements.
The Catalan giants have a gross debt of over a billion euros, leading to the execution of financial levers to bail them out. The sale of Frenkie de Jong could also ease things for Barcelona. Cutting the wages of Sergio Busquets and Gerard Pique could also do the trick.
