Barcelona raise fresh €100m in desperate bid to register new players for Liga season

Sports Staff
·2 min read
Barcelona have not yet registered new signing Jules Kounde for the upcoming season (AP)
Barcelona have not yet registered new signing Jules Kounde for the upcoming season (AP)

Barcelona have sold a 24.5% stake in their audiovisual studio to production company Orpheus Media for 100 million euros (£85m), the Liga club said on Friday, as they look to raise more funds to register new players.

The agreement comes after the club signed a deal with digital fan token firm Socios.com to sell off 25% of their stake in Barca Studios last month.

“With this investment the strategic partners in Barca Studios show confidence in the value of the project and the future of digital content in the world of sport,” the club said in a statement.

Barca have been using several mechanisms to increase their revenue in order to offset losses, reduce debt and fulfil La Liga’s financial fair play rules.

The club have signed five players already this summer – Andreas Christensen, Franck Kessie, Raphinha, Robert Lewandowski and Jules Kounde – and are keen to add Chelsea’s Marcos Alonso and Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva to the mix. Christensen and Kessie are both understood to have clauses in their contract which ensure they can leave the Nou Camp immediately for free if they cannot be registered before the end of the month.

They currently have 17 senior players registered ahead of the season’s start this weekend: Marc-Andre Ter Stegen (1), Sergino Dest (2), Gerard Pique (3), Ronald Araujo (4), Jordi Alba (18), Eric Garcia (24), Samuel Umtiti (no number), Sergio Busquets (5), Pedri (8), Miralem Pjanic (16), Frenkie de Jong (21), Nico Gonzalez (no number), Ferran Torres (11), Ansu Fati (10), Memphis Depay (14), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (17) and Martin Braithwaite (no number).

Pique and Busquets are prepared to accept salary reductions to help the club afford new players, while Braithwaite and De Jong have both come in for abuse from some fans for refusing to take either leave or take pay-cuts.

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