Huge blow to Barcelona, club banned from signing players in summer transfer window: Report

Barcelona has been hit with a severe jolt as they reportedly need to raise £178 million in order to enable their transfer business in the summer. The Catalan giants encountered a severe financial crunch last summer and had to trigger several economic levers as they brought in the likes of Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski to Camp Nou. President Joan Laporta had earlier insisted that the club is in good financial condition and need not sell any other players. But La Liga president Javier Tebas explained the Catalan giants will have to sell players first to make room for new players.

Barcelona banned from entering the summer transfer market: reports

Despite their strong showing on the pitch, Barcelona is entangled in dire financial constraints as the club is also reeling under a massive £ 1 billion debt. They crashed out of the Champions League group stage this campaign and even couldn't secure a Europa League berth following their defeat to Manchester United in the playoffs.

Speaking at the Financial Times' Business of Football summit Tebas opened up on Barcelona's transfer implications. “As of today, Barcelona doesn’t have any room in its budget to spend in the upcoming transfer window. 

“Barcelona has been involved in questionable behaviour which has had an impact on LaLiga and we are acting accordingly. We have ruled that they can no longer sign more players.

“They sold off £620m (€700m) in TV rights and tried to find different ways to solve the situation but they won’t be able to do that next season. We have strict economic controls. At the end of each window, we tell all the clubs in LaLiga what they can spend." he said.

“In the case of Barcelona, they have to drop from spending on wages and transfers from £532m to £399m (€650m to €450m), so it’s a budget of minus £177m (€200m).

“They have to reduce their investment in players and we have encouraged them to sell players because, for every amount they raise in sales, they can spend 40 per cent of that," he further added.

The one player who could attract significant interest is a midfielder, Frenkie de Jong. Manchester United had tried their hand at getting a deal done but failed to attract the player. Barcelona's transfer ban could force them to earn some money by selling some of their prized assets and United could utilise this lucrative opportunity to rope in de Jong in a much cheaper deal.