Barcelona’s chaotic transfer window dominated by Laporta, levers and De Jong saga

Anyone paying attention knew exactly what Barcelona president Joan Laporta had planned for this summer’s transfer window.

In early July, Laporta was talking openly about what was going to happen — Bayern Munich would be persuaded to let Robert Lewandowski go, Raphinha would choose them over his Premier League suitors on leaving Leeds United, Ousmane Dembele was going to renew his contract on a lower wage and at least one of Cesar Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso would arrive from Chelsea.

This was all going to be paid for by activating different economic levers, and a “virtuous circle” would be set in motion, with the team’s success on the pitch driving commercial growth, which would help the club return to financial health.

Everyone within the “entorno” of past and present Barca directors and executives, senior socios, player agents and well connected media reporters were well aware of Laporta’s plans.

Some sceptics wondered whether it would be possible, questioning if so much activity was really in the club’s long-term interests, or if so much noise and hurry was really needed. But after a depressing end to 2021-22, most were happy the team and its fans were going to get an injection of energy and enthusiasm.

Others were heavily involved — director of football Mateu Alemany worked the numbers, while coach Xavi focused on the playing side, and sporting director Jordi Cruyff linked the offices and the pitch. But it was really all about Laporta.

Many did not like exactly how Barca went about their business. There was improvisation and rushing to meet deadlines along the way. But it all happened almost exactly as the Blaugrana chief predicted.

Getting Lewandowski was the most important part of Barca’s window — the arrival of a superstar who would perform on and off the pitch the biggest priority for Laporta. It did not matter so much the Poland international would turn 34 in August, or that Bayern Munich did not want to lose him, it had to be done.

Laporta led the project — reaching out to Lewandowski’s agent Pini Zahavi, who he has worked with on business projects. The player made clear early in the window he was leaving Bayern and would only join Barcelona. The Bundesliga side did not like being pressured so publicly, but soon accepted a fee of €45million (£39m, $45m) for a player entering the final year of his contract.

Personal terms were not difficult to agree, Lewandowski accepted a slight reduction on his wages at Bayern, but will still get paid befitting his status until he is almost 38. Zahavi received €5million in commission from the transfer, sources close to the deal told The Athletic. The intermediary got personal thanks from Laporta during Lewandowski’s presentation on August 5 at the Camp Nou.

Raphinha had been identified by Cruyff to bring more directness and athleticism to Barca, but it was Laporta’s connections that got the deal done. The Brazil forward was definitely going to move, but Leeds preferred to sell to Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur or Chelsea, with doubts over Barca’s ability to pay. A deal was even agreed with Chelsea, but Raphinha preferred to wait until the levers were pulled, much to the frustration of Leeds owner Andrea Radrizzani.

Laporta was always confident. Raphinha’s representative, Deco, was a player at the Camp Nou during Laporta’s first presidency, and now advises the club on transfer targets in South America. A £55million deal was agreed, although Leeds only signed off on the final details as Raphinha was knotting his tie for his public presentation.

Many assumed that meant Dembele’s time was over, especially as back in January Alemany told Spanish TV the France international was finished at the Camp Nou, and the player’s camp had been angered by Catalan media reports calling him a “disgrace” and a “mercenary”.

But Xavi was keen to have both players, and won. In early July, the coach interrupted his holiday for a day and a two-year extension was agreed.

The word from Barca was that Dembele had renewed on much lower terms, and now earned close to the salaries of teenagers Ansu Fati and Pedri. This was accepted by some as evidence that Alemany’s pressure had paid off and saved many millions, although the player’s camp disputes this and says that with bonuses and extras he will earn close to his previous salary.

There was lots of noise around Jules Kounde’s signing from Sevilla. The France defender almost joined Chelsea in the summer of 2021, and 12 months later, everyone at the Estadio Sanchez Pizjuan thought the move was about to finally go through. But there were doubts from head coach Thomas Tuchel, while Chelsea’s change of ownership made things more complicated.

Key again was Xavi, who phoned Kounde and told him how he saw him fitting into his team. Sevilla were made aware of Barca’s interest through the media, weeks before Alemany called Sevilla sporting director Monchi to begin official negotiations. After a deal that could go as high as €60million was agreed, Monchi told a press conference that he had secured a higher fee than Chelsea had offered.

The free transfer arrivals of Andreas Christensen and Franck Kessie were not so convoluted — agreed early in the year, with less need for drama and input from the presidential suite.

Long-serving utility player Sergi Roberto’s contract was quietly renewed on lower terms than before. Teenage playmaker Pablo Torre was added from Racing Santander for €5million as an investment and apparently without worrying too much about adding further to the club’s debts.

Personal terms were agreed with Chelsea full-backs Azpilicueta and Alonso early in the summer, but both were forced to sit tight until space could be made for them. Azpilicueta gave up waiting before the season started and renewed at Stamford Bridge, but Alonso went into limbo. Bernardo Silva more or less publicly admitted he was hoping to join, making things awkward for him at Manchester City.

Meanwhile, Lewandowski, Raphinha and company were settling in nicely as Xavi’s side impressed in pre-season, including beating Real Madrid 1-0 in an exhibition Clasico in Las Vegas. Yet, it was not at all clear whether Barca would be able to register all their new players for the start of the La Liga season.

Barca’s huge debts — of at least €1.3billion, according to their most recent published accounts — were in theory a barrier to spending much money.

Laporta had an answer for that too. The summer was punctuated by the sound of levers being activated, at significant moments, while working against the clock.

The first deadline was the end of June, when the 2021-22 accounts needed to be closed. And it was just before noon on June 30 when the announcement came that US financiers Sixth Street were buying 10 per cent of the club’s LaLiga TV rights for the next 25 years for €267million.

The second lever came in late July with the sale of a further 15 per cent of those LaLiga TV rights for €400million. This came just after the deals to sign Lewandowski and Raphinha had been completed. The third was pulled on August 1 — €100million from cryptocurrency firm Socios.com for a 25 per cent share of the club’s Barca Studios arm.

Four days later, at Kounde’s presentation, Laporta spoke with his typical confidence and pride as he explained that enough money had been raised to shore up the club’s financial position and pay for the €150million-plus outlay on players.

La Liga had a different interpretation. It said Barca had not yet done enough to be able to register their new signings. There were frantic behind-the-scenes communications between the Camp Nou and the league’s offices in Madrid. But 24 hours before the opener against Rayo Vallecano, none of the new stars would be able to play.

Then came another last-minute intervention — when a further €100million was raised from the sale of another 25 per cent of Barca Studios to Orpheus Media, run by Catalan businessman Jaume Roures. La Liga accepted this meant Barca could register almost all of their new signings, but they were still a few million short. So a decision was made to leave out Kounde for now, as he was said not to be yet fully recovered from a knee injury.

Roures is chief of Mediapro, a major player in Spanish football TV rights, and a Barca fan who is a long-time ally of Laporta and helped him return as president last year by guaranteeing €30million of the deposit the new board needed.

Such personal interventions to get the board out of tricky spots are not popular with all of the club’s socios. But there were no visible complaints on August 13 as Lewandowski, Raphinha, Christensen and Dembele started the first official game of the season.

That left Kounde, who was still not registered when Barca won 4-1 at Real Sociedad on the second weekend of the season. If he was not registered with La Liga by August 31, he could leave and join another club for free. Similar clauses meant Christensen and Kessie were chosen within the first group of players registered, to stop them looking for other clubs before the window shut.

The solution this time came when Barca convinced La Liga they could take advantage of the little-used Article 92 within La Liga’s budget rules, which allowed them to accept a temporary “advance” of money, which the club had to promise to return within the same season.

It was then reported this had been made personally by Barca’s directors — Laporta and club treasurer Ferran Olive — who presented promissory notes of €2.75million each to La Liga, who then raised Barca’s salary cap by enough to include Kounde’s annual salary and amortised fee. La Liga accepted this, and Kounde made his debut (at right-back) against Valladolid on August 28.

“The levers have strengthened the club,” Laporta said in early August. “We’d have preferred not to, but it was necessary, and football does not wait. Barca’s fans, fortunately, are well used to this, and our demands are higher than at other clubs.”

High demands, made by their players, and accepted by former president Josep Maria Bartomeu, are among the main reasons Barca got into their financial mess. Even as the team became no longer competitive at the top level, their players continued to earn salaries which gave the club the highest wage bill in Europe.

Another of Laporta’s key objectives was to cut this wage bill by getting players within the squad to leave.

Multiple sources close to players say that they did not like how everything has been done. Agents and advisors would often be surprised, and upset, to find out what Laporta and Alemany were planning to do through the Catalan media.

Xavi was more clear about what he wanted, including in direct conversations with players. At the end of last season, Riqui Puig, Neto Maura, Samuel Umtiti, Martin Braithwaite, Clement Lenglet and Oscar Mingueza were told they were not in his plans.

Homegrown utility defender Mingueza agreed a €3million move to Celta Vigo, back-up goalkeeper Neto accepted a part-payment of his contract to move to Bournemouth on a free. Playmaker Puig was persuaded to leave on a free transfer for LA Galaxy. French centre-backs Lenglet and Umtiti were loaned to Tottenham and Lecce respectively.

The exits did not significantly lower the wage bill.

Laporta and Alemany had long identified Frenkie de Jong as key to finding the kind of saving which could make a difference — as the Dutchman was the club’s biggest earner, and young midfielders Pedri and Gavi could cover his role.

A solution appeared to be found when Manchester United agreed a deal worth €85million to sign De Jong in mid-July. The problem was, as reported by The Athletic, that the player did not want to leave.

The terms of De Jong’s contract then appeared in Marca, showing his basic salary for 2022-23 was €18million a year. According to sources in Spain, Barca alleged to his agents there was “criminality” in that contract, which had been agreed with Bartomeu’s regime. The Athletic understands the previous board are confident in the legality of the contract De Jong signed in 2020 and insist the deal was agreed after approval from legal parties and La Liga.

The dressing room are said to have admired how De Jong had not succumbed to such pressure. Even when Chelsea were prepared to meet Barca’s demands, plus some of the salary he has deferred, he still held firm. It helped that De Jong always knew Xavi counted on him.

The stress felt by many within the dressing room had a symbolic expression when Umtiti’s loan move to Serie A side Lecce was confirmed. The French international burst into tears as he was greeted by fans happy to see him arrive.

There was a huge contrast with the marginalisation and insults he had suffered through recent years, even as he agreed to a salary deferral so Ferran Torres could be registered with La Liga in January 2022.

Pressure was being applied to captains Sergio Busquets, Gerard Pique and Jordi Alba, who are all on huge contracts agreed during Bartomeu’s term.

Alemany spoke with the agents of all three this summer, looking for creative ways to ease the problem. One proposal might have seen Pique play for free in 2022-23, while a loan move to Inter Milan was lined up for Alba, whether he wanted it or not.

But in the end, long-serving players who have regularly made concessions through recent seasons were not going to completely give up money they were owed, even after Xavi dropped Pique and Alba from the team.

Barca’s problems are far from over. Busquets’ deal ends next summer, but Pique and Alba have another two years on their salaries, as well as being owed money they have deferred. Dembele’s extension runs until 2024. De Jong and goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen are in similar situations, on even longer deals.

The players signed under Laporta — with the exception of Lewandowski — have agreed much lower contracts. The nucleus of a new team — Pedri, Ansu Fati, Ronald Araujo, Eric Garcia, Gavi, Torres, Kounde, Raphinha — are on salaries which will allow the club to have a more sustainable future.

The problem is to get from here to there. Even if Xavi’s team were to win the Champions League, La Liga and Copa del Rey in 2022-23, Laporta’s board will again face problems next summer in balancing their books. Even more levers could be activated.

They have permission from socios to sell a share in the club’s licensing and merchandising arm. That will probably not be enough. Concerned socios noted how Roures mentioned the club’s museum as an attractive source of revenue after he helped out Laporta with the fourth lever. Permission to sell a share of the museum’s future takings may come onto the agenda for the club’s next annual assembly in the autumn.

Once Xavi’s team are doing well, socios are again likely to vote to give Laporta any leverage he asks for.

There were no complaints from the Camp Nou during last Sunday’s 4-0 win over Valladolid, as Lewandowski scored twice, one set up by Raphinha, the other by Dembele.

The attendance of 83,972 was also crucial. The average crowd through last season’s 19 home games was just 53,982, as enthusiasm dwindled. Laporta’s virtuous circle — where an exciting team brings success on and off the pitch — appeared to be working.

There was a sense of redemption and pride at how their summer had gone. In the executive box, Laporta enjoyed the proceedings.

Everyone was still looking forward to more drama over the final four days of the transfer window. “We still need some players to leave, that is our main focus,” Alemany said on Spanish TV. “Depending on how things go, what opportunities the market brings, we could sign someone.”

By now Barca had, more or less, accepted that De Jong was going nowhere. The focus was on finding new clubs for the unwanted players still in the squad — Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Memphis Depay, Sergino Dest and Braithwaite.

Talks with Chelsea about Aubameyang had been continuing with Barca holding out for more than the London club would pay. The situation was complicated by Aubameyang’s contract, where he had accepted a relatively low initial salary when he arrived in January, so he still needed to receive money he had earned but not been paid. Things took a more serious turn when the 33-year-old suffered a broken jaw during a robbery at his house in the hours after Sunday’s game.

Depay had held talks with Juventus but no deal was agreed, with the Netherlands forward knowing he is out of contract next summer and would have a better bargaining position from January.

Braithwaite had also not received any offers worth his while, and it did not help the mood during talks that the Denmark international shares an agent with De Jong. US international Dest had by now accepted he should move out on loan, but a potential move to Manchester United could only happen if the Old Trafford side offloaded Aaron Wan-Bissaka first.

Barca were trying to add more players. There were persisting optimistic noises about signing Bernardo from City, but Alemany and Cruyff were spending their time on other targets. Xavi wanted another right-back, but Villarreal’s Juan Foyth suffered a knee injury last weekend, and Borussia Dortmund’s Thomas Meunier was too expensive.

The players had Monday and Tuesday off — De Jong and Depay travelled to England to attend the wedding of international colleague Donny van de Beek.

The first breakthrough was Braithwaite accepting a negotiation of the remaining two years on his contract, freeing him up to join neighbours Espanyol on loan. Winger Ezre Abde, 20, was loaned to fellow La Liga side Osasuna.

Dest might have joined Villarreal, but was more attracted by a last-minute offer from AC Milan on a season-long loan which includes an option to buy. That was confirmed soon after Hector Bellerin’s agent Albert Botines spoke to reporters who caught him at Barcelona’s El Prat airport.

Bellerin had expected to leave Arsenal this summer for Real Betis, where he was on loan last year, but their financial issues made that impossible.

As the day progressed, Barca kept working on multiple fronts. It was unclear which of Aubameyang or Depay — or both — would join Chelsea. Manchester United were also said to have an interest in them. Although this was unlikely, it opened up the possibility that instead of having too many attackers in his squad, Xavi could end up with not enough.

There was even a chance of Antoine Griezmann making a shock return to the Camp Nou, as Atletico put on pressure to change the terms of the deal under which he is on loan. The name of Alvaro Morata, who is more highly rated by Xavi than by Atletico coach Diego Simeone, returned to the conversation. Cruyff and Alemany worked against the clock.

The situation was clarified at 11:04pm on Thursday evening, when Depay tweeted he was staying.

Which meant it was Aubameyang who was joining Chelsea, in a deal worth around €14million, which also finally allowed Alonso to leave limbo.

It was 23:58 when La Liga’s website confirmed Bellerin had returned to the club where he began his career. Alonso was formally released by Chelsea, which would allow him to be registered as a new Barca player after the window had shut.

A summer in which everyone knew what Laporta had planned had gone down to the final seconds.

Barca had overhauled their squad, got their finances back into order (for now), and a wave of energy and positivity is washing over the Camp Nou.

Things went into added time but that is how Laporta likes it.

(Design: Eamonn Dalton for The Athletic)