BarcelonaIn the equator of the summer market, the vast majority of clubs in the League have made few moves in terms of signings. The only one that is spending money in a flash is Barça, although, at the moment, the Blaugrana club has not generated enough margin to register the new additions. Beyond the Blaugrana team, a dozen teams are in the same situation: they are technically overpaid, that is to say, they do not have enough salary margin to bring in new faces.
The pre-season is underway and the clubs are in a hurry to close the squad. They technically have until August 31st, but ideally they’d like to have everything done by the weekend of the 13th and 14th, which is when the League starts. From the employer’s office they acknowledge that many clubs have contacted them to try to find a solution to the economic control, that is to say to the regulations that limit signings depending on the monetary capacities of each entity. But the entity presided over by Javier Tebas has been completely inflexible: the rules of the game are not changed, and even less so in the middle of the market.
The situation is complex and has led to misinterpretations. This week, without going any further, it ran through the networks that the League was ready to give a little more oxygen to the clubs. Information that was quickly denied by the spokespersons of the employer. In reality, and according to ARA, it all started in a meeting between the representatives of Valencia and some journalists, in Switzerland, which is where the club is doing the pre-season. While the media insisted and asked for explanations about why only one addition had been made, this season, the entity said that they were looking for solutions to the regulations. Valencia, a club that had also knocked on the doors of the League in case it could be altered fair play financial – with a no for answer -, he referred to solutions within the current framework. But it was misinterpreted and some understood that the management would make changes to economic control to activate the transfer market.
Javier Tebas’ debate: activating the market without the clubs taking on too much debt
“There are many people who talk about what they have heard and that they do not know the salary limit regulations. And we have taken more than one surprise, with some clubs who did not know it either”, they explain from the League, where they remember that one of the most famous anecdotes was that of Pedro León, a few years ago, when he was signed and presented by Getafe but could not be registered. “Barça has made many additions and the only thing that is very clear is that, at the moment, it does not have room to register everything it has signed”, they add.
At the employer’s office, they are having a difficult debate. On the one hand, they know that without giving room the market is paralyzed, when it suits the League that there are signings and that the clubs are as competitive as possible. And, on the other hand, they also know that if economic control is not strict, football risks returning to past times when clubs accumulated debts with the players and with the Treasury. “The regulations are for everyone. Barça is and will be a money-making machine, but measures cannot be taken to favor it, because the other teams would fall on top of it. The rules are for everyone and for to everyone”, points out one of the consulted sources.
The League, therefore, has decided not to make changes to the regulations. The financial control could only be altered if all the clubs agreed to change it. Now, from the employer’s office, they assure that no movement has been made in this regard. In addition, they see “difficult” that changes can be made, “at least in the short term”. However, there were two substantial changes a few months ago. First by re-adding regulations 1.3 and 1.4 (that clubs who were oversubscribed could sign using part of the money that was saved with the departure of footballers). And then allowing clubs to defer the impact of covid by five years.
Koundé wants to play for Barça
At Barça, everything is catching him in the middle of the race to strengthen the central position, with Jules Koundé’s path reactivated in the last few hours after several Blaugrana sources gave him as lost. Despite this, Sevilla, the club that owns the French defender, maintains to this day that it is only negotiating with Chelsea and that it has not received any direct formal proposal from Barça. The player, who is pushing to play at the Camp Nou, is key in the turnaround; Xavi Hernández, very persistent with his goals, and Joan Laporta, who is an optimist of sorts.
Contrary to what is recommended to him from other sectors of the club, the executive president prioritizes devoting most of the money from the levers to building a first team that competes for all the titles and reactivates the income in the last year at the Camp Nou before of exile in Montjuïc. He is also in favor of taking risks – good players don’t wait – despite the uncertainty that reigns in the loss chapter. Frenkie de Jong and other footballers are reluctant to leave or take a pay cut, and the League continues to set a limit even if Barça presents millionaire capital gains thanks to leverage. In fact, within the club there are not only doubts about the exits – the League starts in mid-August and there is a lot to sign up -, but also about the interpretation that will be made by the employer of the capital gains operations that have been signed in recent weeks to wipe out negative net worth. Based on this criterion, the body chaired by Javier Tebas will update the salary caps of all the teams at the end of this month.
