Franck Kessie – Michmutters
Categories
Sports

Barcelona finally register most summer signings after triggering fourth financial lever

Barcelona have finally managed to register most of their summer signings ahead of the start of the new LaLiga season this weekend, with only Jules Kounde still to be registered.

Xavi Hernandez’s side kick off their season against Rayo Vallecano at Camp Nou on Saturday, but the build up to that fixture has been dominated by the club’s race against time to get all their new arrivals registered.

Stream every LaLiga match on ESPN+ (US only)
LaLiga team-by-team preview: Can Barca return to top?
Notebook: Barca not only LaLiga club with registration issues
Don’t have ESPN? Get instant access

Barca have spent over €150 million this summer on Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and Kounde, while Andreas Christensen and Franck Kessie both arrived on free transfers.

Prior to Friday, however, none of them had been registered with LaLiga due to the league’s strict financial regulations.

The new contracts agreed by Ousmane Dembele and Sergi Roberto had not been signed off by the Spanish league either. However, that duo were also able to be registered on Friday — along with Lewandowski, Raphinha, Christensen and Kessie — following the sale of another 24.5% of Barca Studios.

Barca’s summer spending has been funded by the sale of club assets, with each deal dubbed a “financial lever” by president Joan Laporta.

They sold 25% of their domestic television income for the next 25 years to Sixth Street in two separate packages worth €511m in total. They then sold 24.5% of Barca Studios to Socios.com for an additional €100m.

However, despite raising over €600m, Barca were told by LaLiga last week they would need to sell more assets — or further reduce their wage bill — to be able to register all their new signings.

Barcelona will now have to free up salary space in order to register Kounde. Because they are no longer exceeding their squad limit, though, the club will now just have to free up the equivalent salary space to what Kounde will cost.

On Friday Barca, whose gross debt still totals over €1 billion, closed a deal with Orpheus Media to sell off another 24.5% of Barca Studios for €100m.

Meanwhile, they are also re-negotiating Gerard Pique’s contract with the defender to create further salary space.

Speaking earlier on Friday, Xavi said he was optimistic that most of his new recruits would be available to him against Rayo Vallecano.

“We are working on it, we’re positive,” he said at a news conference. “We have announced the fourth lever and we will see tomorrow, maybe not all 100%, but we are optimistic. We have time until tomorrow.

“It hasn’t had much influence because working on systems, tactics, different variations… One player can play or another because we are doubled up in positions. We work on positioning, systems, variants… so not much changes. But right now, I repeat, we are very optimistic about the registrations.”

All Spanish clubs must adhere to a spending cap for the season, which includes money spent on wages and transfer fees, which are amortized over the length of the contract.

The cap is loosely a club’s revenue minus outgoings and debt repayments and is applied prospectively. Barca’s cap was -€144m at the end of last season, the only negative limit in Spain, but it will rise significantly following the four financial levers triggered this summer.

Barca are not the only club having problems registering their players with LaLiga. Real Betis still have a handful of players not yet inscribed for the new season, while other clubs, including Sevilla, Celta Vigo and Girona, have had to wait until this week to register their summer activity.

.

Categories
Sports

Barcelona signings Christensen, Kessie could leave club on free transfers if not registered in time

New signings Andreas Christensen and Franck Kessie could both leave Barcelona for free if they are not registered before Saturday’s LaLiga opener against Rayo Vallecano, various sources have confirmed to ESPN.

Christensen and Kessie both joined Barca on free transfers earlier this summer from Chelsea and AC Milan respectively. With three days to go until the new campaign starts, however, neither has been registered with the Spanish league.

– Why can’t Barca register summer signings yet?
– The impact of Messi’s exit, one year on
– Don’t have ESPN? Get instant access

Sources have told ESPN that if they are not registered before Barca’s opening fixture against Rayo, both players could choose to execute a clause that allows them to leave for free.

Fellow summer arrivals Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and Jules Kounde are also yet to be inscribed with LaLiga, while the contract renewals signed by Sergi Roberto and Ousmane Dembele have not been registered either.

ESPN understands Christensen and Kessie’s situations are slightly different, though, given they joined Barca for free. Therefore, if they so choose, they would be entitled to leave for free before the transfer window closes.

Sources say at this stage there is no indication it will come to that and president Joan Laporta continues to transmit optimism that all seven players will be registered in time, but Barca are cutting it fine before the start of the season.

In the worst case scenario, sources told ESPN Barcelona would seek to speak with the players’ agents to avoid such an extreme outcome because they have until the end of the month to register signings.

Barca have spent over €150 million this summer and have raised over €600m by selling 25% of their domestic television rights for 25 years and a 24.5% stake in Barca Studios.

A league source has told ESPN that it is still not enough incoming cash for Barca to be able to register all of their signings and contract renewals, although some could be registered now. This would depend on the cost and combination of the deals.

Therefore, Barca are looking to sell a further 24.5% stake in Barca Studios and continue to negotiate wage adjustments with other players, including Sergio Busquets and Gerard Pique.

It was Pique’s wage cut last summer which allowed Memphis Depay and Eric Garcia to be registered on the eve of last season, while similar actions from Busquets and Alba permitted Sergio Aguero to be signed up with the league before the transfer window closed.

Barca’s LaLiga-imposed spending cap was -€144m at the end of last season, the only negative limit in the league, and will have to be increased substantially to register all their summer activity.

The Catalan club hope that the sale of club assets, coupled with a sponsorship deal signed with Spotify earlier this year, will eventually increase their cap to allow them to register everyone.

.