It planned. But finally the president of FC Barcelona, Joan Laporta did not go to Monaco for the draw for the group stage of the Champions League. Neither did his sports director, Deco. Not much less Mateu Alemany. The still director of football until the market ends, that is, until today, he has not been seen in the sports city for days. He is not expected. “There is one day left and little market. They haven't come because we have a few hectic hours ahead of us. As always, we are looking for a way to make a competitive team”, said Joan Soler, a member of the sports commission and representative of the club in the Monegasque city in the draw for the Champions League.
There is a lot of work pending. And time is running out for Barça to close entries and seal exits. In this second chapter there are two that are already ready. The official loan of Ansu Fati is expected today, who is already in Brighton, the city where he will reside for a year to play with Roberto de Zerbi's team on loan, without a purchase option and with the Premier club assuming 80% of your token. He is also in England, specifically in Birmingham, Clément Lenglet. With a contract until 2026, he will play on loan at Aston Villa for one year. The English club assumes a small part of his token, which this year is 16 million euros.
In principle there will be no more exits. Xavi has refused to let Eric Garcia and Abde leave, two footballers who had also considered leaving on loan. The Martorell central defender had a proposal from Girona. Abde del Betis. But Xavi considers that they are necessary footballers to complete an already short squad. And, beyond Fati and Lenglet, Barça is not willing to negotiate more transfers because they weaken the squad and count less for financial fair play, their big problem. However, from Abde's environment, they affirm that in the last hours Betis and Osasuna have applied to buy the player.
The club has been looking for them for months to try to improve their numbers and for LaLiga to allow them to register players. Despite reaching an agreement for Barça Vision with the German fund Libero, the 40 million of the 120 that had to be paid this week have not yet arrived. An essential amount to face the remaining operations. If Barcelona does not receive the income, it can neither face the pending registrations nor much less signings. Having seen what has been seen and with the hope that the money arrives soon, Laporta will make a move today. He will present a personal guarantee together with the treasurer Ferran Olivé of 20 million to register Iñaki Peña, Iñigo Martínez and also Gavi. The latter is already listed as a first-team player but by court order and in a precautionary manner.
The remainder of the guarantee, always pending the lever, will go to João Cancelo, the Manchester City right-back who has been waiting in Portugal for a week for his one-year loan without a purchase option to close. In Manchester they hope that today Barcelona, which was going to assume the entire token, will renegotiate this last condition. And João Félix? The Portuguese, blessed by the board and not so much by Xavi, is willing to lower his salary to dress as a blaugrana. But if there is no economic fair play, there will be no signing. He also has an offer from Saudi Arabia.
