Yesterday afternoon the photograph of Franck Kessié disappeared from the LaLiga registration page. Three hours later the official statement arrived. The 26-year-old Ivorian midfielder leaves for Saudi Al-Ahly and leaves 12.5 million euros in the Barcelona box. Kessié, who arrived free from Milan a year ago at Barça, decided to listen to Xavi. The coach told him that with the high number of midfielders it would be very difficult for him to participate in this course. Kessié leaves a good image at FC Barcelona with three goals, three assists and always a professional behaviour. The goal that he scored against Real Madrid in added time (2-1) in the League classic at the Camp Nou with which Barça put the league title on track remains to be remembered.
Beyond Kessié, Barcelona continues to work to close the transfer of Dembélé to PSG and to activate the sale of 16% of Barça Studios to a German fund for 60 million to obtain new income and, as a consequence, be able to register the seven outstanding footballers. They are the newcomers Oriol Romeu, Gündogan and Iñigo Martínez and the renewed Araújo, Sergi Roberto, Marcos Alonso and Iñaki Peña. They are also waiting for Alejandro Balde and Lamine Yamal, who before traveling to the tour signed a pre-renewal agreement. Bucket until 2028 and Lamine Yamal until 2026. Both renovations should close this month.
The club's planning counts on being able to close the lever and the departure of Dembélé this week before the team travels to Getafe on Sunday for the first league game. The objective is that Xavi can count on the entire squad. Currently there are only 11 players registered with a first team card. Especially urgent is the registration of Oriol Romeu, essential in Xavi's scheme. Also that of Ilkay Gundogan. The contract of the former Manchester City captain, who signed with Barcelona until 2025, included a release clause that means he can leave with the letter of freedom if Barcelona does not register him before August 31. There is less rush with Íñigo Martínez, who is still recovering from plantar fasciitis.
Before the end of the week, the club will activate the resale of 16% of Barça Studios, the company that brings together the club's digital assets, for 60 million euros to a German fund. Negotiations began in mid-June when the club did not pay the 60 million euros it was supposed to receive from Orpheus Media and Socios.com, the companies that initially bought 24.5% of Barça Studios for 100 million each. Both companies asked to postpone until the end of the year the payment of 30 million euros that they had to pay on June 15. An option that LaLiga ruled out. Now the club will repurchase 8% of the shares from each company – 16% in total – to sell them to the aforementioned German fund that will issue the check for 60 million immediately. Only with the activation of this lever, club sources ensure that pending players can now be registered.
But it is the departure of players like Kessié, Dembélé, Dest or Lengle, with whom Xavi does not have, which will serve to sign a midfielder, a right back and a winger. "Dembélé is already in Paris", slipped the director of football Mateu Alemany after the Gamper. The French winger took a flight at the same time that the public address system at the Estadi Olímpic de Montjuïc announced the names of the players. Nobody came out with the number 7 shirt. "We still cannot say the amounts of the transfer," Alemany said that he is leading the negotiations.
It should be remembered that in the Frenchman's renewal contract, Barça 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. But the sports leadership considers that the open negotiations between Dembélé and PSG do not conform to the wording of the clause and seek to enter the 50 million in full. Since June 28, clubs can use 50% of what they save in salaries such as Lenglet, Dest or Kessié to make new hires. That percentage goes up to 60% if the player represents more than 5% of the cost of the squad. This is the case of Dembélé.
