How Barcelona can afford Bernardo Silva without selling De Jong

Daniel Edwards

• Updated: 3 Aug 2022 22:36 BST
• 3 min read

The transfer window continues to be a roller-coaster ride for Barcelona, who have been amongst the most active teams this summer.

The Catalans have spent heavily on new talent while also looking to offload a large percentage of their current squad, which would ease the club's bloated wage bill and lessen the future impact of the loss of income inevitable from the exercising of three economic levers in the current window.

But just because they are struggling to dispense with certain players does not necessarily mean that Barca will slow down their pace on the buying side of the market.

Bernardo Silva is the latest top target at Camp Nou, and president Joan Laporta would love to add his name to a list of signings which already includes Andreas Christensen, Franck Kessie, Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and Jules Kounde.

A big sale was believed to be crucial in order to land the Manchester City star, namely that of Frenkie de Jong.

The ex-Ajax star, however, has shown himself reluctant to seal a reunion with Erik ten Hag at Manchester United, with the issue of back wages owed to him by the Catalans proving a sticking point in negotiations.

Bernardo heading to Camp Nou?

According to some reports, though, Barca may not even need to unload the Netherlands midfielder to continue their summer business.

👀💰ELS NÚMEROS DE BARÇA

🤝Tancament exercici 21-22: +98M€
Fons propis: -353M€

🤔Pressupost 22-23
Ingressos: 1.300M€
Despeses: 900M€
Fons propis: +50M€

💸Massa salarial: 620M€
🔜Límit salarial precalculat pel club: 680M€

Informa @AdriaSoldevila https://t.co/RTVvnt4EUL

— Què T'hi Jugues (@QueThiJugues) August 3, 2022

Catalan radio show Que T'hi Jugues estimates that the club will return revenues of €1.3 billion during the upcoming season, the bulk of which comes from the sale of television and licensing rights - the now-famous 'levers'.

That sum will allow them to balance the books and show an operating profit, which in turn allows them to utilise the full extent of La Liga's salary cap, some €680m.

With their current wage bill sitting at around €620m that gives Barca room to complete further signings, including that of Bernardo, though the club would almost certainly prefer to see De Jong depart first to prevent salaries from spiralling once more at Camp Nou.