While Barcelona has earned €207.5 million from the sale of 10% of the TV rights, and according to new reports are planning to raise at least $200 million, the club is still in a precarious financial position and they need to do some adjustments, including a few players’ exit, to give coach Xavi Hernandez a qualified squad for next season.
In that regard, Frenkie De Jong has been one of the players, alongside Samuel Umtiti, who have been in the transfer talk. In the last week, it has been reported that Manchester United and Barcelona have reached a broad agreement for a €65m transfer. However, it seems like things aren’t that smooth in the negotiations.
During a tribute for Johan Cruyff in ‘S’Agaró’, Barcelona’s president Joan Laporta talked about the club’s negotiations for the summer and he dismissed the information about a possible deal for De Jong’s exit. Here, check out his full words and the only reason he would have to sell him.
Laporta says that Frenkie De Jong is not for sale despite earlier reports
“We have no intention of selling him, he wants to stay,” said Laporta, “I'm going to do everything to keep Frenkie,” Marca reports. However, there’s a but: “There’s also a salary issue and that would have to be adjusted,” Laporta added. This means that they will need to negotiate, as they did with other players such as Sergi Roberto.
According to ESPN, Barcelona’s debt still stands at around €1 billion. They also are the only club in La Liga that are operating within a salary limit of -€144m, which is the only negative cap in the league. Meanwhile, Frenkie’s annual salary is €9,892,480 per Salary Sport and the salary limit will be updated later this summer.
On the other hand, Laporta also revealed that Manchester United aren’t the only ones interested in De Jong. The Red Devils’ coach Erik ten Hag has placed most of his bets on De Jong thus far, especially after the duo worked together at Ajax several years ago.
Barcelona’s plan to raise $200m for summer transfers
On the other hand, according to reports from ESPN and Marca, Barcelona is also trung to sell another 15% of their domestic television rights to raise a €200 million transfer pool for the summer. They already sold 10% of their rights to Sixth Street on Thursday for €207.5m to ensure they did not end the 2021-22 season with losses.
According to ESPN sources, the club believes they can sell the other 15% for €400m. This money could help them fund moves for Raphinha, who is also linked with Chelsea, Robert Lewandowski and Jules Kounde.
Laporta also referred to Lewandoswki in his conference today. "Lewandowski is a Bayern player and I prefer to keep the reserve on this matter. We thank him for wanting to come to Barça and we are very flattered," he said.
