Barcelona transfer ban: Man Utd and Arsenal among Premier League clubs to prosper

Jacque Talbot

• Updated: 3 Mar 2023 19:04 GMT
• 3 min read

Manchester United and Arsenal may enjoy the fruits of Barcelone’s financial plight as it would increase leverage in pursuit of their targets.

La Liga president Javier Tebas declared at the Financial Times' Business of Football summit in London on Thursday that the Catalan side does not have a budget for the upcoming window as they’re riddled with debt.

"As of today, Barcelona doesn't have any room in its budget to spend in the upcoming transfer window," Tebas said.

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

"In the case of Barcelona, they have to drop spending on wages and transfers from £532 million to £399m so it’s a budget of minus £177m.

He continued: "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."

The De Jong saga continues

MEN has reported that Man Utd will make another shot at Frenkie de Jong after the club’s failed pursuit last year.

The midfielder remained at the Nou Camp despite the two clubs agreeing to a deal worth £63m in the summer.

At the time, De Jong was adamant that he wanted to stay in Spain, but now the clubs are on very different trajectories, as he must have seen when he arrived with his current side at Old Trafford for the second leg of the Europa League clash.

Meanwhile, Arsenal have been linked with a move to Ansu Fati and Raphinha - two wingers who have had a rather capricious year at Barcelona in terms of form. Newcastle have also been linked to the latter, too, over a move back to England.

Should Barcelona need to sell some of their players in the window, these Premier League clubs would have a lot of pulling power.