Jules Kounde has not been registered to play for Barcelona ahead of their La Liga opener against Rayo Vallecano; the club has sold 24.5 per cent of Barca Studios to Orpehus Media for £85m; the funds have allowed them to register some signings but not all ahead of the weekend.
Spanish football expert Rik Sharma joins Sky Sports News’ Transfer Talk to discuss all the ongoings at Barcelona, including Frenkie de Jong, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Bernardo Silva and Memphis Depay
Jules Kounde has not been registered to play for Barcelona ahead of their La Liga opener against Rayo Vallecano.
Barcelona had hoped to register all of their new summer signings this week after raising £85m from selling 24.5 per cent of Barca Studios to Orpehus Media – but Kounde will have to wait to make his debut after the list of registered players was announced on Friday night.
Robert Lewandowski (£42.5m), Raphinha (£55m), Andreas Christensen and Franck Kessie, who all joined during this transfer window, have been included in the squad ahead of their opening fixture at home to Rayo Vallecano on Saturday.
Ousmane Dembele and Sergi Roberto have also been registered after agreeing new contracts, while Barcelona are yet to complete the transfer of Marcos Alonso from Chelsea and Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva remains a top target.
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- Barcelona’s 23-man squad vs Rayo Vallecano
Goalkeeper: Marc-André ter Stegen
Defenders: Sergino Dest, Gerard Pique, Ronald Araújo, Andreas Christensen, Jordi Alba, Sergi Roberto, Eric Garcia, Samuel Umtiti
Midfielders: Sergio Busquets, Pedri, Ferran Torres, Miralem Pjanic, Franck Kessie, Frenkie de Jong, Nico Gonzalez.
Forwards: Ousmane Dembele, Robert Lewandowski, Ansu Fati, Memphis Depay, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Raphinha, Martin Braithwaite.
Barca had to meet La Liga’s salary cap to register their new signings but several “economic levers” including new investment deals released funding after the final lever was triggered.
Barcelona would have to free up so-called salary mass to register 23-year-old France defender Kounde.
Barcelona have been using several mechanisms to increase their revenue in order to offset losses, reduce debt and fulfil La Liga’s financial fair play rules.
