FC Barcelona Has Another ‘Unexpected Transfer’

FC Barcelona will stand to profit from what has been dubbed an ‘unexpected transfer’ by the Catalan press.

On Wednesday, the Blaugrana finally announced that it had secured the signing of Joan Garcia from Espanyol after paying the goalkeeper’s €25 million ahead of last weekend.

Though Barca is not involved in the ongoing Club World Cup where bitter rival Real Madrid drew with Neymar’s former employers Al-Hilal in its opening match, Garcia is expected to slot in to Hansi Flick’s first team immediately.

This could speed up the departure of previous mainstay Marc-Andre ter Stegen, though he has claimed ignorance on the subject and apparently won’t go quietly amid interest from Saudi Arabia and Galatasaray in Turkey.

President Joan Laporta has excited fans by hinting that the club is working on its next transfer and that there could be another one after that.

A Euro 2024 winner and close friend of Lamine Yamal, Nico Williams is expected to be the first port of call for Flick’s left wing and can be obtained by paying another release clause which on this occasion would be a much higher $66.4 million (€58 million).

“We are about to make a signing that will be imminent and another that we are very excited about his incorporation. The fact that we are at 1-1 allows us to sign normally and we will continue in this line,” Laporta said, before an FC Barcelona Senate.

Yet even though that might be the case, it is believed that Barca will still be dependent on sales to get its deals over the line. Ronald Araujo’s is perhaps the most attractive potential operation out of the club given that his release clause drops to $75 million (€65 million) for the first 10 days of July as per the terms of his contract.

Ansu Fati to AS Monaco on loan would also help in that it gets his high salary off the books, but that deal is stalling.

FC Barcelona continues to make money on sales indirectly

Yet while FC Barcelona struggles to make sales, it continues to generate money on those of its former players. Thanks to its former reserve star Ludovit Reis signing for Clube Brugge for €6 million, it will take 25% of the transfer leaving it with a €1.5 million payment that is not exactly a windfall but still greatly welcomed in the grand scheme of things.