LA LI GA told Barcelona they must sell Frenkie de Jong as attempt to register signings rejected, while Manchester United watch with interest

Barcelona’s attempts to register their five new acquisitions during this summer’s transfer window have been rejected by La Liga, and the club must now proceed with the sale of Frenkie de Jong.

Barcelona was informed that they could not register any of their new acquisitions until they reduced their financial outlays, dealing a blow to any chances of maintaining midfield sensation Frenkie de Jong.

The Catalan club renewed the contracts of Ousmane Dembele and Sergi Roberto this summer while also bringing in Andreas Christensen, Franck Kessie, Raphinha, Robert Lewandowski, and Jules Kounde. However, none of these players’ registrations with La Liga can be made until the club settles its financial obligations.

This summer, Barcelona’s board, headed by club president Joan Laporta, approved the sale of some of the team’s most valuable assets as a severe measure to earn money. The club chose to sell 25% of its TV rights to Sixth Street (via two different transactions) as one of the assets.

However, it was still insufficient to put the team in a sound financial position before the start of the new season, leading them to sell a 25% ownership in Barça Studio to socios.com for a sum of almost €100 million. The club raised €767 million from the combined sale of its assets; they had anticipated to use this money to register their newcomers.

Club president Laporta said to the gathering fans during Lewandowski’s introduction on Friday at Camp Nou: “We have tried to enrol all of them” (the new signings). We have put in a lot of effort and produced a lot of work to match the requirements.

“And if any additional surgeries are required, we will carry them out. We’re holding out. La Liga must make a choice in this matter. We have followed its instructions. We have faith in our ability to register them.”

On Friday, though, Barca’s attempts to document their new contractual arrivals were unsuccessful because La Liga prevented them from doing so. Simply put, the Catalan club must now raise additional finances to allow its new recruits to represent the club.

Laporta is already planning to sell a further 24.5 percent of Barça Studios, which will bring in much-needed finances but ensure that the club’s long-term revenue streams suffer yet another blow. Critics contend that these actions just delay the inevitable.

Barcelona must also sell players in order to display transfer income and, more importantly, a considerable decrease in the pay bill on their balance sheet. Midfielder De Jong is now more important than ever in this situation since, although earning the biggest salary at the club, he is unlikely to be a regular for the first team in 2019.

Memphis Depay, Martin Braithwaite, Miralem Pjanic, and Samuel Umtiti are among the other priority players who are expected to leave, though it is unlikely that any of them will command a high transfer fee and none are making significant salaries. A number of other departures are also anticipated.