Is there even anything left to sell?
Barcelona have sold off another part of the themselves in order to register their new signings in time for the start of the LaLiga season and ease their financial woes.
The Catalan club have announced that they have sold 24.5 per cent of Barça Studios to Orpheus Media for a total of €100m in the hope that all seven players will be registered for their season curtain raiser against Rayo Vallecano on Saturday.
Andreas Christensen, Franck Kessié, Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha, Jules Koundé, Sergi Roberto and Ousmane Dembélé are all yet to be signed up and can’t until Barça meet the league’s rules on wages.
This is the fourth ‘economic lever’ the club have activated this summer after previously selling 24.5 per cent of Barça Studios to Socios.com and vended 25 per cent of their domestic television rights to Sixth Street for 25 years in two separate deals worth over €500m.
Even with these big-money sales, they still may not be able to register their new signings, with LaLiga set to review the documents to see if they can be added to the squad.
In the meantime the club are in discussions with several players to renegotiate their contracts as well as sell off players to balance the books.
Gerard Piqué and Sergio Busquets are among two who have been asked to take a pay cut as well as Martin Braithwaite, who was booed by supporters of the Catalan giants after he refused to slash his wages.
Frenkie de Jong has been one of those linked with a move away from Camp Nou but is reluctant to leave whereas Memphis Depay is reportedly in talks with Juventus over a month.
Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang could also depart six months after joining and has been linked with a reunion with Thomas Tuchel at Chelsea as they search for a replacement following the departures of Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner this summer.
Related links:
- The enormous wage Ousmane Dembélé is earning at Barcelona revealed
- Barcelona could lose summer signings Andreas Christensen and Franck Kessie for free
- Barcelona threaten Frenkie de Jong with legal action following ‘evidence of criminality’
