La Liga president sends summer transfer threat to Barcelona

La Liga president Javier Tebas has warned Barcelona that they will be blocked from signing any new players until they make drastic cuts to their wage bill.

Barcelona sold off a number of club assets to raise money for a transfer spree that saw the likes of Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and Jules Kounde arrive at Camp Nou last summer, but stricter financial controls imposed by La Liga will prevent the Blaugrana from doing anything similar this year.

“As of today, Barcelona doesn’t have any room in its budget to spend in the upcoming transfer window," Tebas told the Financial Times’ Business of Football summit.

“Barcelona has been involved in questionable behaviour which has had an impact on La Liga and we are acting accordingly. We have ruled that they can no longer sign more players.

“They sold off €700m (£620m) in TV rights and tried to find different ways to solve the situation but they won’t be able to do that next season. We have strict economic controls. At the end of each window, we tell all the clubs in La Liga what they can spend.

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“In the case of Barcelona, they have to drop from spending on wages and transfers from €650m to €450m (£532m to £399m), so it’s a budget of minus €200m (£177m). 

“They have to reduce their investment in players and we have encouraged them to sell players because, for every amount they raise in sales, they can spend 40% of that.”

Left-back Jordi Alba has already pledged to cut his salary to help Barcelona's cause but the La Liga leaders may be forced to take drastic measures and part ways with a number of valuable stars, for whom there would be no shortage of suitors.

Midfielders Frenkie de Jong and Franck Kessie have been tipped to leave, as have forwards Raphinha and Ferran Torres, with Barcelona potentially facing some tricky decisions as they prepare for the summer transfer window.