Barcelona to activate fourth lever in bid to register new signings
By Tom Gott
Barcelona are prepared to sell another 24.5% stake in Barça Studios to raise the money needed to register their new summer signings.
The club have already activated three 'levers' this summer, including the sales of sizeable shares of their merchandising and TV rights, as well as an original 24.5% stake in Barça Stadios to Socios.com.
President Joan Laporta had hoped that further asset sales would not be necessary but La Liga are yet to accept the terms of their business this summer, specifically the sale of their TV rights, which Barcelona are accused of inflating by €150m.
Now needing another major sale to get them closer to meeting the league's salary regulations, The Athletic state that GDA Luma are on the cusp of purchasing nearly a quarter of Barca Studios for a cool €100m.
However, even that is not expected to be enough to register the new signings. Franck Kessie, Andreas Christensen, Raphinha, Robert Lewandowski and Jules Kounde all still need registering with La Liga, as do Ousmane Dembele and Sergi Roberto, who became free agents this summer but eventually inked new contracts.
To get below the salary cap, Barcelona continue to pursue player sales, including the possible departure of Frenkie de Jong, but the likeliest avenue to explore is further salary deferments among the current squad.
Centre-back Gerard Pique is expected to agree to lower his salary for the remainder of the two years on his current contract while midfielder Sergio Busquets has also been asked to lower his wages.
Barcelona's La Liga campaign gets underway on Saturday against Rayo Vallecano, and as it stands, the aforementioned seven players will not be eligible to play.