Barcelona have made it their goal to strengthen in at least one position this winter, and that takes the form of Vitor Roque. However it looks like a tricky task, with the club marking out the 15th of November as the date to inform him of whether he will be joining in January or July.
Roque, 18, who was signed for €30m plus €31m in variables to a seven-year contract, would likely need around €10m at least in salary limit in order to register Roque, taking into account his salary and ammortisation. The problem is that their current limit is at €270m, and their current wage bill is at around €400m.
MD report that La Liga have passed modifications to the salary limit rule which provide a maximum amount for each club that they must pay back of their losses during the pandemic. Barcelona had attributed around €400m in losses to the pandemic, and were due to pay back €80m this year, but that could be reduced somewhat now.
However in order to register Roque, sales are likely to be necessary. Barcelona are still waiting on €40m to be paid by German investment fund Libero for the sale of 29.5% of Barca Vision, and without that, their chances of registering Roque seem minuscule. Even if that were counted, and Barcelona were to have a 50% reduction in their Covid repayments, they would still likely be €60m away from doing so. That can be made up through sales (50% of which can go towards new signings, 60% if the player earns 5% or more of the total wage bill).
The unknown is how much margin Barcelona have currently. It is not yet clear how much of the permitted ‘savings’ they have left available to spend, although given the departures of Eric Garcia, Clement Lenglet and Ansu Fati on loan were deemed necessary to bring in Joao Cancelo and Joao Felix, it can be assumed that it is not a significant amount.
