Barcelona’s transfer window hinges on the inclusion of a 30-year lease of 475 VIP seats being included in their salary limit this summer. The Blaugrana made the sale in late December, and had the €100m included in their salary limit in January, but after auditors Crowe excluded it from their accounts in April, Barcelona must now ensure that it is validated by La Liga to have a chance of making further signings, but are running out of time.
In short, Crowe removed the €100m income from Barcelona’s balance sheet in March, as the product in question, the VIP seats, did not physically exist, and the deal had not come into action yet. In order to prove that the sale has gone through, the Catalan giants had secured a delivery receipt of the seats themselves from constructor Limak, but it appears that has not been enough.
Video: Joan García’s first training session as a Barcelona player. https://t.co/n93V837oWk
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Joan Gamper trophy in question
Barcelona are set to play the Joan Gamper trophy on the 10th of August, in the first match back at Camp Nou since renovations began. The initial hope was that this would be attended by a current capacity 60,000 crowd, but now Barcelona would be content simply to provide the minimum expectation of 25,000 fans a show. This is due to doubts over the pace of the construction work, and the obtention of licences to be able to host major events.
Mayor of Barcelona warns club
As per TV3, and quoted by Marca, Barcelona delivered all of the documentation to the council this week, and their hope is that the licence is approved in mid-July. Barcelona would then hold a test event in late July, before the Gamper trophy. Spotify Camp Nou must pass a safety inspection in order to obtain the licence.
It is added by Diario AS that the warning from Mayor Jaume Collboni ten days ago, in which he pointed out that Barcelona would have to follow the same process as any other company, has caused concern over their ability to get all of the documentation in place in time for the Gamper.
Gamper trophy could decide Barcelona transfer window
If Barcelona do not manage to host the Gamper trophy, then they run the risk of Crowe not validating the €100m lease. That in turn would leave Barcelona still over their salary limit, and only able to register players using 60% of the money saved or earned. At that point, just registering new signing Joan Garcia would be the main goal, and further signings, such as that of Luis Diaz, would be a pipe dream.
