With less than five days to go before the summer market closes, FC Barcelona still cannot resolve the registration of all its players. The delay in returning to the 1:1 rule negatively impacted the Azulgrana sports planning, although most of the issues to be resolved in the summer market were addressed.
In that sense, the figure of personal guarantees, for the fourth consecutive year, emerges as an emergency solution. Prior to the start of LaLiga 25/26, the club presented a guarantee for 7 million euros which, together with the long-term absence of Marc-André ter Stegen, allowed Joan García and Marcus Rashford to be registered in time for the Mallorca-Barça match.
Barça prepares another multi-million guarantee to register Gerard Martín and Roony Bardghji
This week, the strategy may be repeated for a larger amount, again to resolve the registration of Gerard Martín and Roony Bardghji in the squad. Even if the departures of Héctor Fort and Oriol Romeu are completed soon, there will still not be enough margin to register the defender and the forward.
In the case of Wojciech Szczesny, the Pole will be automatically registered once Iñaki Peña's departure is confirmed. The player from Alicante, for the moment, has the number '1' in the Culé squad and will leave on loan to Elche, after renewing until 2029.
'Tek' was left out of the squad after signing a new two-year contract in July. However, as his salary is one of the lowest in the squad, he will have no problems taking advantage of Iñaki's departure. With Martín and Bardghji, the situation is more complex.
Firstly, because Romeu and Fort, barring a surprise, will not leave money in the bank with their respective departures. The midfielder is aiming for a contract termination, while the full-back, like Peña, will renew to go on loan. Both, for now, do not appear registered in the official LaLiga squad, so they do not free up space when they leave.
Barça could avoid activating another guarantee with a last-minute move
The Azulgrana board, however, still has two open scenarios with which it could avoid activating a new multi-million guarantee. Firstly, if the 100 million euros corresponding to the sale of 475 VIP seats in the new Spotify Camp Nou were to be accounted for once and for all.
With this operation, pending authorization from auditor Crowe Spain and LaLiga, there would not only be enough margin to register the three pending players. By returning to 1:1, the club, if it so wished, would have enough 'Fair Play' to make another last-minute signing.
The summer market closes next Monday, September 1 at 23:59 and Barça does not rule out incorporating Cameroonian striker Etta Eyong. The Villarreal player would cost 5 million and immediately after his signing he would leave on loan to another LaLiga team.
However, the weeks have passed and, as they do not have the necessary licenses to reopen the Camp Nou, the money from the VIP seats has not yet entered LaLiga's accounts. The other scenario that would resolve the mess with the registrations without depending on another guarantee would be to raise funds through a 'top' sale.
Fermín and Casadó would hold the key to returning to 1.1, but...
In the last few hours, market rumors have intensified about the possible transfer of Marc Casadó and Fermín López. The player from Huelva is the one with the best chances of signing for Chelsea. This transfer would leave around 70 million in the Culé coffers, while for the midfielder, another 50 'kilos' could easily fall.
Beyond the growing interest of several European giants in both players, neither Fermín nor Casadó intend to leave in the final stretch of the market. Although both are aware of the tough competition for a place in Hansi Flick's line-up, the coach has guaranteed them his confidence and support for the rest of the 25/26 season.
As things stand, the Culé board is once again dependent on committing private assets to have all its players available. A situation that generates discomfort and uncertainty and that, unfortunately, is repeated in practically every transfer window from 2021 to date.