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La Liga have rejected Barcelona's attempts to register their five summer signings in a huge blow ahead of the new season.
Despite being in the middle of serious financial troubles, the Blaugrana have still been incredibly active in the transfer market and brought in Franck Kessie, Andreas Christensen, Raphinha, Robert Lewandowski and Jules Kounde.
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Their summer spree has baffled many, who cannot understand how they've been able to splash the cash given their situation.
But as per The Mirror, it's emerged that La Liga blocked their attempts to enter their new players into the new system because they need more funds.
🚨 La Liga have REJECTED Barcelona’s attempts to register their new players.
— Transfer News Live (@DeadlineDayLive) August 6, 2022
Laporta has been told the wage bill needs to be slashed before the likes of Lewandowski and Raphinha can play.
What a mess.
(Source: @tariqpanja)
Reports tonight that La Liga has rejected Barca’s efforts to register its glut of new players. Laporta told us wage bill was currently at €551m and needed to be reduced, instead it has gone up. Assets sold haven’t been enough. More future income now on the block to sign players
— tariq panja (@tariqpanja) August 5, 2022
While Lewandoski was juggling balls at the now Spotify Camp Nou, La Liga was telling Barcelona it could not register him or others unless it raised funds by selling further assets and reducing its payroll. 🎪
— tariq panja (@tariqpanja) August 5, 2022
What's more, Sergi Roberto and Ousmane Dembele - the two players who signed new contracts on less terms after their deals ran out - can also not be registered at this moment.
Barcelona have not been able to register (for La Liga matches); Franck Kessie, Andreas Christensen, Raphinha, Robert Lewandowski and Jules Kounde.
— Kristian Sturt (@FootieWriter) August 5, 2022
However, additionally, as Ousmane Dembele & Sergi Roberto contracts expired and were subsequently renewed they're also unregistered.
It's a familiar predicament for the Catalonian outfit as last year the club needed the likes of Gerard Pique to take a substantial pay cuts so that new signings Memphis Depay, Eric Garcia and Rey Manaj could play.
There have been reports that Barca have asked Pique and Sergio Busquets to replicate the gesture again, while they have offloads the likes of Clement Lenglet, Dani Alves, Philippe Coutinho, Francisco Trincao, Oscar Mingueza and Riqui Puig.
But they still have dead wood in the form of Depay, Neto, Samuel Umtiti, Sergino Dest, Miralem Pjanic, Alex Collado and Martin Braithwaite, though the latter is playing hard-ball.
It still likely won't be enough, however and Barca have been told they must pull a fourth "economic lever" - according to The Athletic.
The third lever arrived earlier this week when they agreed to sell 25 per cent of Barca Studios to Socios.com, for a fee of €100 million (£83.7 million).
To note, there are numerous reports on what the sale of the 4th lever might involve. Some state a sale of 49.9 percent of the total of BLM and some state just 49.9 percent of Barcelona studios.
— Kristian Sturt (@FootieWriter) August 5, 2022
Barcelona will know which one they need to explore based on their finances.
In addition, they sold 25 per cent of their TV rights over the next 25 years to Sixth Street, a US company.
These deals are believed to have raised €767 million but their next step could be to sell 49 per cent of their production company.
Speaking at Lewandowski's unveiling on Friday, president Joan Laporta said: “We have done our job well and we think that we meet all the requirements. All of the documentation has already been sent and we are waiting for a response from La Liga.
“There could be some disparity, but as we understand that there will be no problems to because we have met everything [all of the requirements] and they will be able to register the footballers. If that isn’t the case, we are prepared to apply a fourth [economic] lever and we will do so.”
Barcelona start the new season at home to Rayo Vallecano on 13 August.
Featured Image Credit: Alamy & Barcelona
Topics: Barcelona, Robert Lewandowski, Jules Kounde, Ousmane Dembele, Raphinha
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