Barcelona’s summer of conscience-free transfer activity continues to descend into farce.
With four days to go until the club kicks off its La Liga season, Barcelona is facing the rather significant problem of still being unable to register any of its new signings.
Robert Lewandowski. Raphinha. Jules Koundé. Andreas Christensen. Franck Kessie. None of them will be able to play if the club doesn’t generate more income. Neither will Ousmane Dembele or Sergi Roberto, who renewed their contracts over the summer.
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Barcelona, which as a reminder is more than €1 billion in debt, has funded these signings by pulling on its so-called “levers” – essentially mortgaging the club’s future in exchange for an immediate injection of cash.
On Tuesday, Sport reported that Barcelona activated the fourth lever, selling 24.5 percent of Barca Studios to the GDA Luma investment fund for €100 million.
Will that be enough to register the club’s players? Incredibly, after the first three levers raised over a half billion euros, it seems not!
COPE says that Barcelona is still €60 million shy of its goal, even after longtime defender Gerard Piqué took another pay cut.
As the clock continues to tick, the Blaugrana are growing increasingly desperate.
The De Jong gambit
Barcelona has been trying to sell star midfielder Frenkie de Jong all summer in a bid to raise more cash.
With a sale still elusive, Barcelona appears to have found its most daring gambit yet: suing itself.
The Athletic reported this week that the club’s current board is prepared to take its previous board and the player to court, alleging that De Jong’s current deal was illegally constructed in its deferment of payments to later in the contract’s lifespan.
It’s all pretty routine stuff: One of the world’s most storied clubs selling off future revenue in a fire sale to fund a host of exorbitant and unnecessary player signings, all while threatening to sue current players and forcing others to take a pay cut.
And, as if to thumb its nose at the entire concept of rules, Barcelona is reportedly nearing another big-money signing in the form of Man City star Bernardo Silva.
La Liga kicks off on Saturday. Will there be a fifth lever? Will Barcelona sue its own player? Will it convert all its holdings into crypto? Will all the club’s major signings be forced to watch as the academy talent that probably should’ve been used this season anyway plays instead?
In this saga, it’s all on the table. Stay tuned!
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