Imagine a sinking ship. The hole in the boat is big and it cannot be patched, and the sailors are throwing away unnecessary baggage in order to lighten the ship so it can arrive to the port before it sinks into the sea completely. It’s the same situation with Barcelona. The Catalonians have to lower their overall wage structure to comply with the UEFA, but also La Liga rules, and they have to sign Leo Messi to a new contract. And they have prepared necessary measures, just like president Juan Laporta said so a week ago, since the new pre-season starts on July 12th, less than a week ago.An important UEFA rule is the main obstacle for Messi’s contract renewalThe Catalonians are desperately trying to offload the players they don’t need, but for some of them it’s almost impossible, so they are prepared to let them go for free. As Mundo Deportivo writes, Samuel Umtiti and Miralem Pjanic are two players who are likely to become free agents soon. Barca sent them an e-mail with the proposal, but they both turned it down. Umtiti still wants to impress coach Koeman, while Pjanic want’s to see his options first. In fact, they know the club is in turmoil and they both know they won’t play as long as Koeman is a coach, but they want their contracts to be honored. Barcelona can try to loan them out (Lyon and Marseille for Umtiti, Juventus or Inter for Pjanic), but all other clubs know about Barca’s situation, and will try to drag the negotiations, knowing that the Catalonians are short of time. If they somehow manage to get rid of Pjanic, they will save 4.1 billion Ksh for his salary.Laporta on Barca’s finances: ‘This is worse than I expected’While they face huge problems with these two players (and heavy earners), they were lucky with a couple of mid-ranged earners. It has been confirmed that Trincao has joined Wolves on a season-long loan deal with the Midlands club holding a 4 billion Ksh option to buy in the deal. With this deal, Barca has saved around 500 million Ksh. Another player is Junior Firpo, who is on the verge of 2 billion Ksh deal to Leeds. Apart from these two, Barca sold Todibo to Nice and Konrad de la Fuente to Olympique de Marseille. But they still need more money and less wages. And after Messi’s, another clock is ticking: La Liga deadline is approaching.
