Barcelona president Joan Laporta has further strengthened the club’s financial position with the sale of part of ‘Barca Studios’ to socio.com for 100 million euros, which could have a major impact on Manchester United’s pursuit of Frenkie de Jong.
The Spanish club have recently found themselves in a financial mess and have activated what are known as “leverages” to return to a positive bank balance, as reported. as.com.
These ‘economic levers’ are essentially president Laporta selling certain assets owned by the club, in order to get funds immediately. So far the club has sold television and other licensing rights allowing them to bring in the likes of Robert Lewandowski and Raphina.
This latest ‘leverage’ being activated means they can now register their five new signings and could affect the future of Dutchman Frenkie de Jong.
United manager Ten Hag is a known admirer of the playmaker and it is now well known that United and Barca had agreed a fee, with Barca keen to sell the player to raise more funds.
However, with this latest financial boost, the Catalan club may not feel the need to sell the 25-year-old now, which could leave United scrambling for a plan B.
Laporta was speaking during Jules Kounde’s presentation and did not mention any future transfer activity during the conference, but still offered small words of encouragement to United.
“We are working on the exits but it is not easy,” said Laporta. It was unclear what those departures might be, with several other players set to leave including Memphis Depay and Sergino Dest.
United’s pursuit of Frenkie de Jong has been an ongoing saga almost as soon as the transfer window opened.
The deal appears to have stumbled due to deferred wages owed to the player by the Spanish club due to missed payments during the Covid-19 pandemic.
It will be interesting to see if this latest “economic leverage” will allow Laporta to pay those wages to De Jong now, or if the bulk of the cash freed up has already been used in new signings and reducing the clubs debts.
Ten Hag and United will be hoping it’s the latter, as that would still leave the door ajar for De Jong to become a Red Devil.
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