La Liga have confirmed that Barcelona have been able to register Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha, Andreas Christensen, and Franck Kessie after activating their fourth ‘economic lever’, but the Spanish side have failed to register Jules Kounde.
The Athletic had previously revealed Barca believed they would be able to register four of their new signings, but Kounde would not be registered.
Kounde will now be ineligible to face Rayo Vallecano in the club’s La Liga opener on Saturday evening.
The Athletic can also reveal that centre-back Gerard Pique has offered to drastically reduce his salary in order to help the club register new signings.
Barcelona had been unable to register any arrivals, or Ousmane Dembele and Sergi Roberto, who signed new contracts this summer, as they were still not under La Liga’s imposed squad cost limit.
The club have been activating a series of economic levers in a bid to balance their books, having previously had debts totalling over €1billion, with the fourth lever pulled on Friday morning — selling 24.5 per cent of Barca Studios to Orpheus Media for €100million (£84m, $102m).
La Liga went through the documentation and approved the lever, causing no issues with registering the four players.
However, it is understood that Kounde’s registration is dependent on salary reductions and squad sales, with the France international missing out due to Barcelona’s centre-back depth and his own lack of training sessions with the team.
As part of these efforts, Pique has informed Barcelona that he is willing to drastically reduce his salary this season in order to help the club register new signings.
Sources have suggested the 35-year-old’s reduction could be to the extent that he effectively does not receive a salary for the 2022-23 campaign, although he would then take a wage during the final year of his contract in the 2023-24 season, but the final details are still to be thrashed out.
Pique previously reduced his wages last summer, along with Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba, to help Barcelona register then-new signings Sergio Aguero, Memphis Depay and Eric Garcia.
Pique previously reduced his wages last summer, along with Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba, to help Barcelona register then-new signings Sergio Aguero, Memphis Depay and Eric Garcia.
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