As the summer transfer window closes its doors on Friday evening, many teams are doing their utmost to fine-tune their respective squads. In Barcelona, the summer was rather hectic with the departure of executives such as Ousmane Dembélé (PSG), Jordi Alba (Inter Miami), Franck Kessié (Al-Ahli), Samuel Umtiti (LOSC) and Sergio Busquets (Inter Miami) but also the arrival of new players like Oriol Romeu (Girona), Ilkay Gündogan (Manchester City) and Iñigo Martínez (Athletic). But a final file must still be locked by the Catalan management in the last hours of the summer market: the signing of the Portuguese side João Cancelo.
Indeed, according to the latest indiscretions of the Carrusel Deportivo of the SER padlock, the Blaugranas and the Skyblues are also in the process of agreeing on the loan with an option to buy 25 million euros integrated to finalize the arrival of João Cancelo in Barcelona. This option could also be mandatory if the Catalans reach the knockout stages of the Champions League. Finally, the vast majority of the Portuguese winger’s fees would be paid by the Culés while the Cityzens would pay a smaller part. But implicitly in this transfer window, FC Barcelona still has to erase certain financial worries that are handicapping the situation of the Catalan club.
20 million from his pocket!
FC Barcelona are waiting to receive 40 million euros from the German fund Libero Football Finance and of these, 20 must be paid no later than this Thursday, August 31, as stipulated in the contract. And according to information from the Catalan newspaper Sport, the 20 million euros expected will be allocated directly to registrations still pending but also to the finalization of the transfer of João Cancelo. But if this amount ends up not arriving or if it was not enough to carry out all these operations, the Barcelona club is looking for an alternative to resolve the problem before the deadline. And always according to the indiscretions of SportFC Barcelona president Joan Laporta and general manager Ferran Olivé i Cànovas say they are ready to invest from their own pockets.
If the money from Libero Football Finance does not arrive in time, the personalized guarantee from Laporta and Olivé should cover all the operations and reach almost 30 million euros. Although other alternatives have been studied – there was talk of an American investment group – the personal guarantee would now be the most operational, three days before the transfer market closes. As a reminder, on August 28, 2022, the club’s president and treasurer guaranteed 11 million euros to be able to register Jules Koundé in La Liga, so it would not be the first time that management has put in its own savings to clarify the situation a little more. Blaugrana situation.
