Xavi concerned by Barcelona's inability to register Jules Kounde
By Tom Gott
Barcelona manager Xavi has admitted he is growing concerned by the club's struggles to register new signing Jules Kounde.
The Blaugrana have cleared up enough money to register the rest of their new signings - Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha, Franck Kessie and Andreas Christensen - as well as secure the contract renewals of Ousmane Dembele and Sergi Roberto, but €60m-signing Kounde remains out of the squad.
Barcelona are trying to offload players to clear up room under the salary cap, but the likes of Frenkie de Jong and Martin Braithwaite have dug their feet in over leaving Camp Nou - the former because of €17m worth of deferred wages that he is owed.
At a press conference after Sunday's 4-1 win over Real Sociedad, Xavi admitted he has no issues with players refusing to leave the club but confessed he is growing more concerned over Kounde's continued absence.
"It doesn't bother me that players don't want to leave, everyone looks to their future," Xavi said. "It bothers me not to have Kounde. Perhaps Jules would have played today.
"It bothers us all. Don't get me wrong, Mateu [Alemany] and Jordi [Cruyff] are doing an extraordinary job, but it bothers me because we signed him to play. The first ones to get upset are Mateu and Jordi.
"The player understands the situation. It's what we have to deal with. Let's wait for next week, see if there's any luck."
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AS state that Barcelona need to free up €20m before they can register Kounde and they are growing concerned that a lot of their proposed departures appear to have hit a wall.
The only positive at the minute is Samuel Umtiti's move to Lecce, which will be finalised if the centre-back passes a medical, but plans to sell Braithwaite and De Jong are no further forward - although 90min understands that Manchester United have not given up on signing the latter and talks are expected to resume.
There are also worries over the sales of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Memphis Depay and Sergino Dest. Aubameyang is wanted by Chelsea but the Blues are looking for a swap deal involving left-back Marcos Alonso, whose wages would only add to the current dilemma at Camp Nou.
Memphis' switch to Juventus has slowed in recent days, meanwhile, and right-back Dest is resisting Barcelona's efforts to move him on.