“Still have room”: Barcelona VP claims there is scope for registering new players in January

Speaking in an interview with TV3, Barcelona’s economic vice-president Eduard Romeu has claimed that club have room on their wage bill to register new players in January while staying within La Liga’s Financial Fair Play rules.

Barcelona were put through the wringer during the summer transfer window as their massive wage bill meant that they had to lose club legend Lionel Messi and a number of other players and bring in only a handful of new signings.

The Catalans even struggled to register those who came in and needed their captains to take pay cuts in order to make it possible while staying within La Liga’s limits. However, the late-exit of Antoine Griezmann and the salary reduction of three of the four captains, has created room for the Blaugrana to make new investment in the January transfer window.

Indeed, Romeu, speaking to TV3 has confirmed that Barca have around €20 million to spend on new players while conforming with the Fair Play rules.

“We still have room for ‘fair play’ to register players. We have about €20 million. It is a figure that is beginning to be important, and that we could consume to bring the player or players more suitable for the places that the technical team decides,” he said.

Plans for the January transfer window are already afoot at Camp Nou as Barcelona are said to be keen on bringing in a new central midfielder and a forward.

There have also been speculations surrounding the future of Ousmane Dembele as his contract situation remains unresolved. If that does not change, the Frenchman could be shown the exit doors, which would free up further space on the payroll and generate more funds to splash as well.

It remains to be seen who Barcelona decide to bring in during the January transfer window. A lot of things could depend on who the manager of the club will be at the time, with Ronald Koeman’s job still very much insecure.