Barcelona in desperate dash to register players after receiving warning

As Friday rolls in, FC Barcelona are running out of time to register their new summer signings ahead of their opening match for the 2022/23 La Liga season. As of Thursday, the club has not registered neither the new arrivals nor the players who have just renewed their contracts.

La Liga has warned the Blaugrana that they won't make any special provisions to "rush" the player registrations in order to allow them to play on Saturday. Barcelona will be opening their campaign against Rayo Vallecano at the Camp Nou, and manager Xavi Hernandez may be left without a number of key players if the situation is not sorted in just over 24 hours.

According to Mundo Deportivo, La Liga has not received the documentation required to prove that Barcelona have successfully activated the fourth financial lever that would allow them to make space in their salary cap to accommodate the new players.

The club has reportedly sold another 24.5% of their media production arm, Barca Studios, in a deal that is expected to bring in 100 million euros. While many Spanish publications including Diario AS claim that the deal is done, a formal announcement has not been made and the league is yet to receive the documents.

Needless to say, there is a real chance that the following players may not be registered by Saturday: Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha, Franck Kessie, Andreas Christensen, Jules Kounde, Ousmane Dembele (renewal) and Sergi Roberto (renewal.)

There are contradicting reports about some players like Sergio Busquets and Gerard Pique being asked to take salary cuts, and some other high-earners are believed to be on their way out in the coming days. It remains to be seen if the club has done enough to get their affairs in order by Saturday.

To be clear, they do have until August 31 to register all their players. However, Xavi would want to kick off the campaign with all of his players available. Not only that, the club will lose face if they are forced to make the players wait for several weeks before they can be registered.

A meeting was reportedly held at the Barcelona offices on Thursday between President Joan Laporta, Vice-President Rafael Yuste and Director of Football Mateu Alemany. It is unclear what transpired, but Barcelona fans and probably even the players are collectively holding their breaths to find out what will happen between now and Saturday.