EUROPEAN FOOTBALL

Barcelona contracts talks with captains stalled

Julian Araujo

Barcelona pulled every financial muscle to compete with the big club in the latest transfer window. And they successfully pulled major signings under big European clubs’ noses. Raphinha, Kounde, and Lewandowski signed for the Blaugranas while rejecting clubs like Chelsea.

However, when the world was wondering where Barcelona was getting their money, the main concern should have been if they could actually register those players.

Barcelona activated four levers to bring in more than 600 million in income. These levers provided them with profit to reorganize their 1.3 billion debt. The levers also brought in 200 million of revenue to sign players. The fourth lever, activated last week, allowed them to register six of the seven new signings and renewals except for Kounde.  

Barcelona’s measure to register Kounde

The Blaugrana didn’t prioritize Kounde’s registration as he was returning from an injury. But with the next league match approaching this Sunday, they still have to find ways to register the player. Marcos Alonso’s signing is also on standby because of the whole fiasco.

Several reports from last week stated that Barcelona was negotiating with Busquets and Pique to readjust their contract according to the salary cap set by the board. While at a certain point, the negotiations seemed successful.

But as per several reports this week, talks with both the captains have stalled without reaching a middle ground. With Busquets, Barcelona was negotiating for a contract extension that would defer the salary. However, Busquets wants to leave the club in 2023 when his existing contract expires. His agent wanted the club to include a clause through which he could go next season, but the club did not agree to it. MLS has appeared as a possible destination for the veteran. With Pique, Barcelona wanted to include a massive wage cut and asked the player to let go of the 50 million deferred salaries he is owed.

The club also feared that the league wouldn’t allow the new contracts to be signed. Back-to-back deferred salaries would go against the League rules.

Currently, the club is looking to clear the wage bill through player sales. Memphis and Aubameyang are close to leaving the club for Juventus and Chelsea, respectively.

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