Barcelona President Joan Laporta is not willing to wait and find out whether German investment fund Libero will come good on the deal they struck just weeks ago, taking matters of player registration into his own hands.
As per Gerard Romero, via Sport, Laporta has agreed a bank guarantee with Banco Sabadell which notes that if Libero do not pay the €20m they are due Barcelona by the 31st of August, then he and treasurer Ferran Olive will put up the funds. Those funds are essential for Barcelona to be able to register new players this summer, with first-team players Inaki Pena and Inigo Martinez still unable to play, and signings held up.
Romero continues to say that La Liga have accepted this bank guarantee, which should free up space in their salary limit to register players and sign Joao Cancelo, who has been heavily linked with the club. Barcelona have now sent the documentation necessary to register goalkeeper Pena, who signed a new deal with the first team several months ago, which will be approved.
🚨 There's green light for Iñaki Peña's registration. @gerardromero
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) August 31, 2023
It is not yet clear if this will be sufficient for Barcelona to register Martinez and make more signings. It appears as if Ansu Fati is on his way out too, which will save the Blaugrana on his wages. Once again though, Laporta has failed to follow through on his promise of having all of Barcelona’s players available for the start of La Liga.
Image via LLUIS GENE / AFP
