The clock of the Olympic Stadium of Montjuïc, built in 1927, is setting the pace to return to host a football match today for the first time since 2013. On the occasion of the Joan Gamper trophy, Barcelona will debut against Tottenham what will be its temporary home at least until November 2024. The traditional team presentation party comes with many unknowns to resolve in the form of levers to activate and transfers and signings to close.
Five days after the start of the League, the club has pending the registrations of seven footballers. They are the newcomers Oriol Romeu, Gündogan and Iñigo Martínez and the renewed Araújo, Sergi Roberto, Marcos Alonso and Iñaki Peña. Also Balde and Lamine Yamal are in the process of closing their respective renovations. On the LaLiga page there are only 13 registered. Among them Kessié and Dembélé, both with a foot and a half outside the club. The most advanced is that of Kessié who yesterday passed the medical examination with Al-Ahli Saudi who presented an offer of 15 million euros. Kessié, who arrived at Barcelona free last year, will sign with the Saudi club for three years.
Without Kessié, the first team got on the official bus yesterday afternoon that took them from the sports city to Montjuïc to complete the first training session there. Dembélé also trained, who traveled to Paris last Thursday and reached an agreement with PSG but who continues to negotiate the figures for his transfer. It should be remembered that in its renewal contract with Barça, the club agreed to include a mandatory transfer clause. If the player notified before July 31 that he had a proposal, he could leave by entering 25 million of the 50 that Barça will receive.
However, the sports leadership considers that the open negotiations between Dembélé and PSG do not conform to the wording of the clause and will do everything possible to enter the 50 million in full. You have until August 21, the maximum date according to FIFA regulations, to close the transfer. The French League starts on August 12. “Dembélé is still a first-team player. Normality above all ”, insist sources from the Blaugrana club that, if negotiations are not accelerated in these last hours, they do not rule out that the Frenchman will be presented today at the Gamper along with the rest of the squad. It is more difficult for Xavi to count on him to play the match. Disappointed with the Frenchman, the coach already left him out of the squad in the last game of the American tour at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas against Milan.
Beyond Dembélé, the coaching staff will also decide today how to manage the participation in the Gamper of footballers that Xavi does not have. This is the case of Lenglet, a footballer who played last year on loan precisely at Tottenham. The French center-back, with a contract until 2026, has rejected a proposal from Saudi Arabia and is looking for new proposals. Keeping him this year will cost Barcelona 16 million. It does not enter into Xavi's plans. In fact, he did not play a minute on the tour. Sergiño Dest is in a similar situation, with a contract until 2025. The right-back costs Barça this year 10 million euros. Xavi gave him the opportunity to participate in the American tour but he was not convinced.
In the economic and sports area of the club they are also waiting to see what they enter with these outputs to calculate the salary mass that they release. Since June 28, clubs can use 50% of what they save in salaries such as those of Lenglet, Dest or Kessié to make new hires. This percentage goes up to 60% if the player represents more than 5% of the cost of the sports squad. It is the case of Dembélé.
At the same time, Barcelona seeks to close the resale of 16% of Barça Studios for 65 million, not only to register the seven pending players. Also to sign a midfielder, a right back and a winger. The arrival of Bernardo Silva seems impossible. Manchester City is not in the business of selling the footballer with a contract until 2025 who has been offered a renewal. For the right side they like Cancelo and in front they have ruled out (again) Neymar. Neither the salary he receives at PSG nor his profile convince the club.
