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Barcelona are facing a potential crisis as they could be unable to register their new signings for the upcoming season. The club need external investment and many financial actions to register their new signings and further sign players and are procuring it by selling some of their assets for immediate cash to strengthen their squad. The investors who were supposed to invest in the club are considering backing out, which could lead to another crisis in the club.
According to reports, the German investors who were supposed to buy a 16% stake in Barça Studios for €65 million have decided to withdraw from the deal. This could jeopardize the club's plans to register new players like Ilkay Gundogan, Oriol Romeu, and Inigo Martinez, who joined the club this summer.
Barcelona has been managing its massive debt and excessive wage bill by selling the club's assets to raise money. The Catalan group had previously sold Orpheus and Socios.com a 49% stake in Barça Studios last year, it should be noted.
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Each company invested €100 million for a 24.5% stake, but Barcelona was left in a bad situation because the companies missed their deadline to deposit the €30 million installment payment. These steps, however, were insufficient to meet La Liga's financial fair play regulations, which place a cap on the amount of money that clubs may invest in their teams.
To solve this problem, Barcelona president Joan Laporta activated the club's fourth economic lever', which involved selling a stake in Barça Studios, the club's audiovisual division, to a group of German investors. This would allow the club to register their new signings, who were brought in by new coach Xavi Hernandez to revamp the team. However, the deal has reportedly fallen through due to disagreements over the valuation of Barça Studios and the conditions of the agreement.
Sources in Barcelona have denied these claims and said that the deal is still in process and will go through soon. The club vice president has said that the signings will be registered soon and that they are working on it.
"We are working on it," he said in an interview conducted with SPORT. "We presented a viability plan to the league, we are working on it, and I think that soon we will be able to announce that there will be no problem for the top players to be registered.”
Barcelona are in a desperate situation and need to find a solution quickly. They could try to sell or loan some of their fringe players, such as Sergino Dest and Ferran Torres, who have been linked with moves away from the club. This could affect the club’s plan to replace Ousmane Dembele, who is confirmed to leave for PSG soon on a 50 million euro transfer. However, time is running out for the club, as they have to register their new players before their first La Liga game on August 13 against Getafe.
