FC Barcelona were finally able to register Memphis Depay, Eric Garcia and Rey Manaj for the 2021-22 season - thanks to Gerard Pique.
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FC Barcelona were able to register Memphis Depay, Eric Garcia and Rey Manaj for the 2021-22 season. The main credit for that goes to veteran defender Gerard Pique. He took what has been termed a ‘substantial pay cut’ which thus helped the club massively. Barcelona are in absolute financial turmoil right now. Their debt of over a billion euros also saw them lose club skipper and legend Lionel Messi on a free. But it has also prevented them from registering any new signings, at least until now. As things stand, they will be able to begin their season with some new faces in the side.
It is also worth noting that negotiations are ongoing with two other senior players – Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba – to reduce their salaries.
The club stated the two are willing to take a cut and thus it is only a matter of time before they are announced.
“FC Barcelona is able to register Memphis, Eric Garcia and Rey Manaj to play in the Spanish Liga de Futbol Profesional. This has been made possible thanks to an agreement with Gerard Pique whereby the Barca second captain’s salary has been substantially reduced,” they said.
“This means that all of the first team players will be available for selection by Ronald Koeman for this Sunday’s opening Liga fixture against Real Sociedad.
“The club is also continuing to work with two of the other captains, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba, to adapt their salaries to the club’s current situation. It must be noted that both players are totally and utterly willing to cooperate.”
Barcelona need to reduce their wage bill further for two reasons. The first is to register new signing Sergio Aguero, whose name was missing from the announcement.
But it is also to free up more space in their budget. La Liga’s FFP rules are forward looking, meaning the better clubs handle finances now, the more they can spend in the future.
Right now, the club are not able to sign players on big money. This is mainly due to the fact that big earners in the squad remain on the books.
The club will hope to change this soon enough. As things stand, the club will have a squad with new players to open their La Liga campaign.
Barca’s league campaign begins on Sunday (August 15). They will take on Real Sociedad to open the 2021-22 La Liga season. They will hope to do better than they did last season.
In 2020-21, Barcelona did manage to win the Copa del Rey trophy. However, they only finished third in the league.
