August 10, (THEWILL) – Barcelona are facing a selection headache ahead of their La Liga opener against Getafe on Sunday, with several new signings yet to be registered due to the club’s financial troubles.
Midfielder Ilkay Gundogan, one of Barca’s marquee summer arrivals from Manchester City, is among a host of players who cannot feature this weekend, as the club continues to grapple with breaching Financial Fair Play rules. Defender Jules Kounde also missed the start of last season due to similar registration issues.
Along with Gundogan, new signings, Inigo Martinez and Oriol Romeu, are also unavailable, while the likes of Ronald Araujo and Sergi Roberto, who recently renewed their contracts remain unregistered. As things stand, Barcelona only have 12 eligible players at their disposal.
The situation mirrors last summer’s predicament, when big-money arrivals Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and Franck Kessie were left in limbo until the last minute before being cleared to play. Barcelona eventually met La Liga’s stringent financial criteria after approving the sale of club assets and future revenue streams.
With debts totalling €1.35 billion, the Spanish giants continue to walk a financial tightrope as they renovate Camp Nou stadium. Creative manoeuvring saw them leverage their TV rights, stadium naming rights and audio-visual division to raise capital in the past year. However, with their room for leverage shrinking, the club may need to consider further capital injections to meet registration requirements this season.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
