A delay in an audit of Barcelona’s finances has forced the La Liga champions to push back the registrations of this summer’s new signings, a report has claimed.
Not yet operating under La Liga’s 1:1 spending rules, Barcelona have not been able to add to their official squad so far this summer, meaning new signings Joan García, Marcus Rashford and Roony Bardghji are, as it stands, ineligible to feature in Spain’s top flight. Rashford has insisted he is relaxed about the situation.
Barcelona officials have long proclaimed confidence that all issues will be resolved soon—as was the case before Dani Olmo’s registration evolved into a lengthy, as-yet-unresolved legal issue last season—but SPORT claim they have been met with an unexpected delay.
Club finances are being audited by Crowe Spain but delays in the final stages of the process mean La Liga are still unable to reach a final verdict on Barcelona’s ability to sign players. It is stressed that the setback is simply an administrative delay, rather than an issue with the club’s accounts.
There had been hope that Barcelona would be able to register their new signings before this weekend’s Joan Gamper Trophy against Como, but those plans have now been delayed by at least another week.
Alongside new signings, Barcelona are also currently unable to finalize any new contracts or players who have returned from either loans or long-term injuries. As revealed by MARCA, there are as many as eight players still lost in purgatory outside the official squad.
Wojciech Szczęsny, Gerard Martín, Héctor Fort, Marc Bernal and Oriol Romeu are all awaiting registration, although the latter is expected to leave the club anyway.
Barcelona’s La Liga season begins next Saturday, Aug. 16, against Mallorca. As it stands, none of the aforementioned players are eligible, leaving manager Hansi Flick with a particular headache in the goalkeeping department.
García and Szczęsny are both out of the squad—the Poland international’s new contract was only finalized after his registration had expired—and Marc-André ter Stegen is set for an extended spell on the sidelines, leaving wantaway stopper Iñaki Peña as the only senior option as it stands.
Barcelona had hoped that Ter Stegen’s injury would give them the opportunity to discount his salary for the first half of the season. La Liga rules state any player sidelined for over four months can be temporarily eliminated from the wage books, but Ter Stegen has publicly declared he will be back in three months and is refusing to grant the club access to his medical records. The feud has seen him temporarily removed as team captain.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Barcelona ‘Forced to Delay’ Player Registrations After Unexpected Setback.
