Soccer-Barca still unable to register Kounde as player, Xavi says

Sixth Street Specialty Lending

20/08/2022 12:54

By Fernando Kallas
    BARCELONA, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Barcelona have still not been
authorised to register French defender Jules Kounde as a player,
one of their marquee summer signings, as the club works to
comply with LaLiga's Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules, manager
Xavi Hernandez said on Saturday.
    "At the moment, we don't know anything. We are on stand-by,"
Xavi told a news conference ahead of their trip to San Sebastian
to face Real Sociedad on Sunday.
    Barca need to comply with LaLiga's salary cap rules to
register Kounde, and potential sales of strikers Pierre-Emerick
Aubameyang and Memphis Depay could make this possible.
    "We are waiting. Kounde is a great leader and a great
player. Hopefully he shows it soon - tomorrow, if he can play.
    "He has trained very well, I see him in good spirits, but we
need to sell players to be able to register him."
    Kounde missed out on Barca's season debut against Rayo
Vallecano after LaLiga prevented the club from registering him
alongside his fellow summer signings Franck Kessie, Andreas
Christensen, Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha.
    "The transfer market ends on Aug. 31 and we don't know what
will happen," Xavi said.
    "Auba and Memphis are still here, so tomorrow we will use
them. But the priority is to register Koundé."
    Barca have taken several steps to increase their revenue in
order to offset losses, reduce their debt and comply with
LaLiga's financial fair play rules.
    They have sold stakes in their audiovisual studio, their
licensing and merchandising division and even part of their
LaLiga TV income rights to help balance the
books. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2Z32DK urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2PN35I urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2Y32M6
    They also signed a shirt and stadium sponsorship deal with
Spotify. 
    On the other hand, they approved financial plans last
December to renovate Camp Nou, including raising an additional
1.5 billion euros in debt.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N2VI44M

 (Reporting by Fernando Kallas; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
 ((Fernando.Kallas@thomsonreuters.com;))