Barcelona still ‘€30-40m short’ after fourth lever: Alonso deal, Christensen future in doubt?

It’s a “fight against the clock”, says local outlet Diario Sport after Barcelona mortgaged yet another part of their club, this time selling off a(nother) quarter of their in-house media operation to a third party for €100m. The “fourth lever” has been pulled, and it sounds like they’re now fresh out of levers. (And are thus looking to “manage” the situation with transfers and extortions.)

Unfortunately for them, and amusingly for the rest of the football world (and before their inevitable bailout by the government), they’re still €30-40m short of being able to register all their new signings (and renewals), not to mention make the additional signings they’ve been targeting, one of whom is Chelsea left back Marcos Alonso. Alonso was left off the team on opening day because of this impending move, which would sure make it awkward if for some reason the proposed €8m deal fell through.

That said, it would be even more awkward if Barcelona were unable to register all their already-signed players, including a certain Andreas Christensen — especially as according to ESPN, the contract he signed has a cancelation clause in it: if Barcelona cannot register him by the opening match of the season this weekend, he would be free to rip up the contract and look for a different team to join (or re-join?). Obviously, he would prefer not to do that, but he surely wouldn’t want to sit on the sidelines for at least six months just sipping the Barca Kool-Aid — which clearly is unlimited supply, unlike their funds.

Fellow free agent signing Franck Kessié is a similar situation, while all the other new arrivals (Raphinha, Koundé, Lewandowski) and renewals (Dembélé, Sergi Roberto) are sweating alongside them as well.

If Chelsea are to continue doing business with these clowns — no shortage of Aubameyang and Frenkie De Jong rumors — I’d like to see us drive hard bargains for once. Leverage should be on our side, and rather strongly.