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Marca - Barcelona.
Tick Tock!
Barcelona will kick off their 2021/22
LaLiga Santandercampaign on August 15 when they take on
Real Sociedad at the Camp Nou.
Whilst the club hierarchy would ideally like to reach that date with their summer business taken care of, there are a number of key tasks that they needs to deal with in order to do so.
Firstly, whilst the departure of nine players this summer, such as
Juan Miranda, Konrad de la Fuente and Francisco Trincao, has reduced the club's wage bill by 35 million euros, the club know that further sales are crucial in order to lighten the wage bill sufficiently.
The great sale
The club need to lighten the wage bill by 100 million euros, and would be able to achieve this should they sell
Antoine Griezmann and Philippe Coutinho.
However, the sale of these players looks unlikely to be completed before the start of the season, even though time is of the essence.
Failure on the club's part to adapt to Financial Fair Play rules means that they will not be able to sign players or bring in
Lionel Messi on his new contract until the situation has been resolved.
The salary reduction
Joan Laporta has spent a number of weeks speaking to various first team players about adapting their salaries to the club's economic situation.
Although he had hoped that Messi's decision to take a 50 per cent pay decrease would lead to the likes of
Gerard Pique, Sergio Busquets, Sergi Roberto and Jordi Alba doing the same,
there has been no signs of an agreement from any of these four players ten days later.
Lionel Messi
The club had hoped to bring Messi back into the frame for pre-season at the start of August, however this situation has become complicated.
The fact that the club have not sufficiently reduced their wage bill means that they can't welcome him back yet.
However, given the agreement between the player and the club over a new contract, Laporta is working with LaLiga and Javier Tebas to find a solution.
Barcelona will kick off their 2021/22 LaLiga Santander campaign on August 15 when they take on Real Sociedad at the Camp Nou. Whilst the club hierarchy would ideally like to reach
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