Barcelona told they must sell Frenkie de Jong as attempt to register signings rejected

La Liga have rejected Barcelona’s attempts to register their five new signings in this summer transfer window and the club must now act on the sale of Frenkie de Jong

Barcelona have been dealt a blow in any hopes of keeping midfield star Frenkie de Jong after being told they could not register any of their new signings until they reduce their financial outgoings. 

The Catalan club have signed Andreas Christensen, Franck Kessie, Raphinha, Robert Lewandowski and Jules Kounde this summer while renewing the contracts of Ousmane Dembele and Sergi Roberto – none of whose registrations can be registered with La Liga until the club balance their books.

Barca have handed a 10-day deadline for any potential transfer of Dutch international De Jong with both Manchester United and Chelseapursuing a deal. It comes after United boss Erik ten Hag instructed United to remain patient on a deal after holding fresh talks with the player.

Barcelona’s board – led by club president Joan Laporta – have taken some drastic steps to raise funds this summer by sanctioning the sale of some of the club’s major assets. Among the assets, the club opted to sell 25% (across two separate transactions) of its TV rights to Sixth Street.

However, that was still not enough to put the club in a sufficiently healthy economic situation ahead of the new season, prompting them to sell a 25 percent stake in Barça Studio to socios.com for a fee of around €100m. The combined selling off of club assets raised €767m for the club – and they had hoped to register their new arrivals with these sales.

On Friday, at the presentation of Lewandowski at Camp Nou, club supremo Laporta told assembled fans: “We have worked to enrol all of them (the new signings). We have worked hard and productively, in order to meet the requirements.