Barcelona president Joan Laporta has revealed that he can’t rule out the sale of a forward this summer, amid increasing concern about their financial fair play compliance for next season.
At the beginning of March, La Liga president Javier Tebas revealed that ‘As of today, Barcelona doesn’t have any room in its budget to spend in the upcoming transfer window’.
‘Barcelona has been involved in questionable behaviour which has had an impact on LaLiga and we are acting accordingly. We have ruled that they can no longer sign more players”.
‘In the case of Barcelona, they have to drop spending on wages and transfers from £532m to £399m (€650m to €450m), so it’s a budget of minus £177m (€200m).
Last season, the Blaugrana used a series of economic ‘levers’ to combat their financial issues, which included a sponsorship with Spotify and the sale of future TV rights. This then funded a hefty summer of spending, which saw Jules Kounde, Robert Lewandowski, Franck Kessie and Raphinha headline the arrivals lounge.
However, they may not be able to do so this summer, and so sales seem to be the most likely avenue through which to be able to combat the strict La Liga regulations.
“We can’t rule out the sale of an attacking player in the summer”, the Barcelona President explained.
“When Memphis Depay left us, we could have signed a forward, but the economic reality is very difficult and we can’t rule out the sale of an attacker”.
Chelsea have been rumoured to hold an interest in Raphinha, having been beaten to the punch last summer, while Arsenal are also thought to be keen on signing Ferran Torres should he become available.
