Barcelona's £46.7m signing held up, defender deal not progressing

Barcelona are working round the clock to find a way to register new signing Ferran Torres, who arrived from Manchester City for an initial £46.7 million at the start of the January transfer window. The Catalan club's over inflated wage bill is stopping them from registering the forward, who has recovered from a foot injury that saw him sit out the last three months.

Barcelona's spending cap was slashed to €97 million for the season owing to their crippling debt and over-spending in recent seasons. They are now struggling to register their new signings, similar to the problem they faced in the summer following the arrivals of Memphis Depay and Sergio Aguero.

It was believed that the exit of Philippe Coutinho, who joined English Premier League side Aston Villa on a six-month loan, would have allowed Barcelona to register Torres, but the club's sporting director Rafael Yuste has suggested otherwise. He confirmed that more exits are necessary for the Spain international to be able to play for the club in the upcoming games.

"More exits are needed," said Yuste ahead of Barca's La Liga clash at Granada, as quoted on Barca Blaugranes. "We are working so that this is done as soon as possible."

Barcelona are hoping to renegotiate a deal with Sergi Roberto on a reduced salary, while they are also awaiting a response from Ousmane Dembele with regards to his plans for the future. The Frenchman is currently eligible to sign a pre-contract agreement with clubs outside Spain owing to having just six months on his current deal.

The La Liga giants are also keen to offload a number of high-earning first-team stars with Samuel Umtiti at the top of the list. The France international has been deemed surplus to requirements and Barcelona are hoping to find him a new club sooner rather than later.

Another player on the chopping block is loanee Yusuf Demir, who only joined the club last summer. The Austrian winger is not expected to play a role for Barcelona going forward as one more appearance will trigger a €10 million clause to make the move permanent, which Barcelona are not keen to exercise.

The dream scenario for Barcelona will be to register Torres ahead of the Spanish Super Cup clash against Real Madrid on Wednesday. However, that seems unlikely at the moment with Umtiti's potential departure not moving as quickly as the club desires, while Dembele and Demir also remain on their books.