Barcelona’s transfer plans have been thrown into chaos after LaLiga announced the club doesn’t have enough financial fair play space. The “Azulgrana” are facing another summer of limited spending, hindering their ability to sign key targets like Dani Olmo.
Barcelona is facing another problematic summer. LaLiga has announced that the “Azulgrana” team does not have ‘Fair Play’ for the next campaign, which represents a huge step back for the next market. Barcelona will have many problems signing players since it has no room in the salary cap.
This is nothing new. In recent years, it has already suffered this situation in which its ability to sign players was very limited. What happens is that it believed that it had come out of this well, as LaLiga confirmed in January, to which it has now returned after it has retracted.
The reason is that 100 million have disappeared. Those from the sale of the VIP boxes. At first, the operation seemed done, but, surprise, the club did not include it in the profit and loss account of the interim Financial Statements that were delivered to LaLiga a few days ago. The reason is that the new auditor did not reflect them because he did not agree with this operation. The result is that the club is left without ‘Fair Play’ which would mean not being able to register Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor.
LaLiga and CSD, different paths
Although the CSD, which is the one who decides, allows the registration of both players, the problems of ‘Fair Play’ will continue. Because the resolution of the CSD is not directed in this sense, but on the freedom of the player to exercise his right to work and that the rule of not being able to register a soccer player twice in a season in the same team was outdated. But Barça will continue without ‘Fair Play’ whatever the resolution of the CSD says, which the club understands will be favorable.
Validating the operation
And now what? This is what the fans are asking. What does the club have to do to overcome this situation so that in the next market it returns to rule 1:1? Well, the first thing is to demonstrate that the sale of the VIP boxes of the Camp Nou is effective by providing all the money from that operation valued at 100 million. And that will have to be done before June 30 when the economic balance is closed.
Rule 1:1
The problem is that this situation once again ties Deco and Flick’s hands when it comes to putting together the squad for next season. The Sports Director does not know what money he has available to sign players. At this time, none unless they start selling players. And even so, the limitation when going to the market is considerable because it cannot sign for the same money that it sells. For that, it must return to rule 1:1 and it is not in it now.
At least, this situation does not affect the renewals that the club made in this 2025. And they are very important players since in this period in which they have been in rule 1:1 by having ‘Fair Play’, they have been able to extend the contracts of Araujo, Pedri, Gavi and Íñigo Martínez. According to sources from LaLiga confirmed to MARCA, those renewals cannot be unregistered. At least for the “Azulgrana” club, these players are safe.
Reluctance in the market
The inconveniences come when bringing reinforcements. While this situation is not resolved, and it does not seem that it will be immediate, it is very difficult to convince a player to come to Barcelona. They have already seen what has happened in previous markets in which they have had to wait until the last minute to register the signings. And in the face of other offers, it is very possible that the players that are interested prefer the security of other teams. But Deco is already used to this.
