Tense waiting time in the FC Barcelona offices. There are three days left until the transfer market closes and, after reaching an agreement with Joao Cancelo and Manchester City for the right-back to arrive on loan until the end of the season without a mandatory purchase option, the club is still looking for a way to sign him up. The entity is pending payment of the 40 million euros of the lever that closed on August 11 with the German fund Libero Football Finance AG which, together with the private investment advisers of NIPA Capital B.V., became new partners of the Barça Vision platform by purchasing 29.5% of its shares for 120 million euros. So far, they have not arrived. And the president Joan Laporta, as Sport announced and La Vanguardia was able to confirm, plans to activate the Koundé route by activating a personal guarantee for the second consecutive summer.
Barça, Libero and NIPA agreed that Barcelona would pay in the amount of 120 million euros in installments. When the deal was closed on August 11, 5% of the shares were sold in exchange for 20 million euros. This figure, together with the departure of Ousmane Dembélé, which represented an income of 35.4 million, served to register Gündogan, Ronald Araújo, Abde, Sergi Roberto and Oriol Romeu.
Continuing with the agreement, the new members of the club had to contribute the remaining 40 million until reaching 16% of the shares (8% of the 24.5 of Orpheus Media and the other 8% of the 24.5 of Socios.com) that allow Barcelona to increase its income in two tranches of 20 million before the summer transfer market closes. For now, it has not happened and sources from the Barcelona club assure this newspaper that, in parallel to the negotiations with both partners, they are also working on a personal guarantee of the 20 million necessary to sign and register Cancelo that would be provided by the president Joan Laporta together with the treasurer Ferran Olivé.
It is not the first time it happens. Last year the club resorted to an article included in the LaLiga economic control regulations, specifically 92. The wording points out that there is the possibility of completing the necessary figure to comply with the ‘fair play’ by anticipating income, benefits or reduction of cost from a deposit or bank guarantee provided by the managers (not by the club) or by someone outside the entity. After missing the first two days of the League, Koundé, who had arrived on July 28, was able to make his Barcelona debut.
In the first instance, the right-back was going to arrive on loan with a purchase option of 25 million euros that would become mandatory if sporting variables such as overcoming the group stage of the Champions League were met. Finally, Barcelona has ruled out this agreement because LaLiga would account for the operation in the financial year of this course, affecting the economic fair play. The player’s file will be assumed by FC Barcelona. When the course ends, the clubs will talk to see if a transfer is closed or not.
Beyond the arrival of Cancelo, the club continues to work on the departures chapter. A loan for Lenglet to Aston Villa is being negotiated and in the last few hours Tottenham, which is looking for a substitute for Harry Kane, has applied to sign Ansu Fati. The player, who does not feel essential, considers leaving on loan. Only if they close the exit of him, Barcelona would consider signing another striker. The best positioned is João Felix. The Portuguese, blessed by the board of directors and represented the same as Fati by Jorge Mendes, does not count for Simeone. Xavi Hernández would prefer that neither Ansu Fati nor Abde leave.
They do not want, for the moment, more exits in the offices of the club. However, there are soccer players’ agents who are moving and players who are rethinking their future. One of them is Eric Garcia who has received interest from Girona just as Cadena SER advanced. The central defender from Martorell had minutes in the matches against Cádiz and Villarreal but he knows that he has a lot of competition and has asked Xavi to leave.
However, the technician is not in favor. He considers that he is a necessary footballer to complete an already short squad. Club sources also point out that Barcelona is not willing to negotiate a transfer because it counts less for financial fair play and because the club would also have to take over part of the token.
The one who did not play for a minute against Villarreal is Ez Abde. The Moroccan winger is also rethinking his future. Although Barcelona assured their agent, Javier Garrido, in a meeting that took place last week that the player is not transferable because Xavi has him, their entourage assures that “everything is possible” and that his future “depends on if powerful offers arrive”. Abde has received strong interest from Betis, whose sports director is Ramon Planes, who signed him for Barça when he played for Hércules and with whom he maintains a very good relationship.
