Concern in Barcelona over lack of player sales

One of the many things that Barcelona president Joan Laporta needed to do once he took over was to take a look at the club’s finances and find a way to reduce the wage bill. An “easy” way to do that is by selling some of the players.

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After signing Sergio Aguero, Eric Garcia, Emerson Royal, and Memphis Depay, the attention has turned to shortening the squad and getting things under control. However, it’s a lot easier said than done.

Barcelona need to sell a number of players but yet to find many takers.

According to Sport, alarm bells are ringing at the Camp Nou as the end of the month is fast approaching and the only players slated to leave are Konrad de la Fuente and Jean-Clair Todibo.

Two players who are not costing the club that much money. De la Fuente is leaving the ‘B’ team and Todibo is joining OG Nice after spending last season there on loan.

While Barcelona are going to get a small transfer fee for both of them, they aren’t the players they are desperate to offload.

The players they want to sell include the likes of Samuel Umtiti, Martin Braithwaite, Junior Firpo, and Philippe Coutinho to name a few. Finding teams willing to negotiate for them has been a problem.

Not only that but many of the players on the chopping block do not want a move. Those factors leave Barcelona in an unenviable position.

Another factor working against the Catalan giants is LaLiga’s salary limit. At the moment, the club has too many players on their squad pushing their wage bill over said limit. It’s going to take more of a hit if and when they announce the renewal of Lionel Messi.

Laporta knew he was inheriting a mess when he won the elections but perhaps even he did not know how dire the situation was.

"“Today we have the wage bill at 110 percent of expected income,” Laporta said. “The wage bill has to be adjusted and we have to work towards this direction; it is another situation in which we have to make decisions to comply with financial fair play.”Source: Sport"

As it stands, Barcelona have 33 players on their squad. Realistically speaking, the amount of players that will need to be cut reaches close to double figures. Again, the problems are the players’ unwillingness to leave and their wages which are a huge detriment to clubs who may be interested.

It is unlikely they are going to find teams for every player they want to get rid of. In that instance, they may try to negotiate either termination of a player’s contract or a change that would see a reduction in the player’s wages.

The pandemic has put a spotlight in how badly Barcelona has been run and they are now facing those consequences. There is still time before the start of the new season where some difficult decisions are going to need to be made.