Right now, the situation for many clubs in La Liga is tense.
As reported by MARCA, of the 90 new signings made by the 20 clubs this summer, only 41 have been officially registered with La Liga, meaning they will be unavailable for this weekend’s first round of fixtures, and beyond.
This does not apply just to player transfers, but to players with new contracts with their existing clubs and youth players who are making the step up to the first team.
Many clubs are, therefore, facing a race against time to have their full squad at their disposal for the opening weekend, which begins this Friday at 19:30 CEST, when Almería welcome Rayo Vallecano.
Unsurprisingly given the financial black clouds that have been hanging over them for some time, Barcelona are one of the biggest offenders here; having registered none of their new arrivals. Taking their departures into account, it means they currently have a first team squad of 13 players, just five days ahead of their trip to Getafe.
Their entire squad reads; ter Stegen, Christensen, Koundé, Eric García, Gavi, Pedri, Ferran Torres, Kessié, Frenkie de Jong, Dembélé, Lewandowski, Ansu Fati and Raphinha.
To make matters worse, three of those players; Franck Kessié, Ousmane Dembélé and Ansu Fati, are all expected to leave the club in the coming days. Plus, Paris Saint-Germain are reportedly interested in adding Gavi to their shopping list.
Barcelona’s new recruits İlkay Gündoğan and Oriol Romeu remain unregistered, but the Camp Nou club are not the only ones with this issue; Real Betis are yet to register Isco, Hector Bellerín and Marc Roca, while across the city exciting youngster Ibrahima Sow is still waiting to officially join the first team at Sevilla, one of a number still in limbo at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan.
Real Sociedad, Celta Vigo, Alavés and Las Palmas are all among the clubs yet to dot the “I”s and cross the “T”s with their first matches fast approaching. While Real Madrid are the only team to have all their new acquisitions settled with the league.
Anthony Tomas | GSFN
