Dembele is stopping Barca from registering Ferran Torres – Xavi

FT Desk

• Updated: 2 Jan 2022 18:59 GMT
• 3 min read

Xavi has explained that Barcelona can’t afford to register Ferran Torres and that if Ousmane Dembele takes a pay cut it would allow their new signing to start playing.

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Torres completed his big-money transfer to Barcelona from Manchester City on December 28 for a fee of €55 million plus €10m in add-ons, signing a five-year contract at Camp Nou.

However, he may have to wait some time before he can make his debut for his new club.

La Liga’s squad registration window doesn’t open until January 3, meaning he is ineligible anyway for Sunday’s game at Mallorca.

But thereafter, Torres will still be ineligible.

Barcelona must ensure that the annual salary of their squad accounts for no more than 70 per cent of their income in order to comply with La Liga’s regulations.

Pedri and Ansu Fati have recently signed new contracts on improved terms, while the arrival of Torres has further increased Barca’s wage bill.

These contracts have increased Barcelona’s salary mass, which stood at 95% of their income when they were unable to renew Lionel Messi’s contract last summer.

As a result, Messi moved to PSG on a Bosman Transfer and Barcelona were forced to only sign free transfers in the summer with Memphis Depay, Eric Garcia and the recently retired Sergio Aguero arriving for no fee.

Barcelona must cut salary bill to register Ferran Torres

Barcelona need to sell players or find a way to reduce their salary bill significantly in order to register Ferran Torres.

Xavi has confessed this is an issue but says that if Dembele agreed to a wage drop in signing his new contract, it would solve the problem.

Dembele’s current deal expires at the end of the season and Barca have made little headway in getting the Frenchman to renew.

“Torres is coming off an important injury, he has fantastic commitment, he's going to give us a lot, I've no doubt about it. He can play in different positions, I'm very happy with the effort made by the club to get him,” Xavi said.

“We'll see how the salary cap situation is, if it's possible right away.

“There has to be players leaving. If we get Dembele to re-sign his contract and lower his pay it will allow us to sign Torres and we hope that it can happen.”

Dembele is wanted by a number of top European clubs on a Bosman transfer this summer.