Barca told to activate fourth ‘lever’ to register new signings

Barcelona have been told by La Liga they will need to activate a fourth 'economic lever' to register their summer signings and the club has also opened talks to see whether senior players including Gerard Pique will consider a pay cut to assist the process, The Athletic reported.

The club activated their third 'economic lever' on last Monday, with the club selling 25 per cent of their Barca Studios commercial arm to Socios.com, for €100million.

This follows the club selling a total of 25 per cent of their La Liga TV rights over the next 25 years to US firm Sixth Street.

According to The Athletic, doubts remained within La Liga over Barcelona's capacity to register the players and now it is understood they have been formally told by La Liga they will have to activate a fourth 'lever' – which could potentially mean selling up to 49 per cent of Barcelona studios – and may still face further requirements to inject cash or reduce costs. 

Barcelona have been very active in this transfer window, bringing in Franck Kessie, Andreas Christensen, Robert Lewandowski, Jules Kounde and Raphinha. They, however, have not yet been able to register any of those signings due to the salary limits imposed upon them by La Liga.

Barcelona president Joan Laporta was bullish about having to activate further levers at Lewandowski's presentation on Friday.

"There could be some disparity, but as we understand that there will be no problems because we have met everything (all of the requirements) and they will be able to register the footballers. If that isn't the case, we are prepared to apply the fourth lever and we will do so," Laporta said.