Saying Barca is in financial troubles is putting it lightly. Years of mismanagement, and effects of the pandemic has put a serious stress on the club's earnings. Every year, Spanish football's top flight, La Liga, implements, very strictly may I add, certain regulations which decide a club's wage cap, and how much a club can spend for new transfers. It is essentially the profits, i.e., the debt obligations and the cost of operations subtracted from the net revenue.

So in La Liga the allowed Salary cap for the upcoming season, is directly proportional to the revenue a club generates, in the season gone by. This revenue has been massively hit due to the pandemic, which in turn has reduced the wage cap for clubs, especially Barcelona, significantly. From around 670 Million € in 19-20, to 350 Million € in 20-21 and now, to 160-200 Million € in 21-22 (approx figures), the salary expenditure limit for Barcelona has taken a humongous hit, probably the most, in all football clubs throughout the world. Now, the difficulty for FCB is maintaining their first team squad, having only around ¼th of the salary budget as compared to just two seasons ago, and with almost no player accepting a wage cut.

Unless the total salaries fall back in the allowed budget, La Liga is not allowing FC Barcelona to register it's new signings, which include, Kun Aguero, Memphis Depay, Eric Garcia and Emerson, but most importantly, Lionel Messi's contract renewal also hangs in the balance, even after he agreed on a massive wage cut of almost 50%.

Speaking to Radio MARCA, La Liga President Javier Tebas, on being asked whether he would allow an exception to the wage cap rule for Leo Messi, said, "No, I won't for Messi, it's impossible." "This is a right that the clubs have and we have to safeguard the integrity of LaLiga." He also said he hopes Messi stays.

Now the only way Barcelona could register or renew players, is to let the older ones, who haven't justified their salaries, go. Let's look into a few possibilities.

With Memphis Depay and Aguero coming in, to compete for the Frenchman's position, Griezmann is the obvious choice to be shown the door, which is also the club's stance. Griezmann being the second highest earner after Leo Messi, it is practically impossible for Barca to retain both of them at this point.

Griezmann, even though he found some of his old grace last season, hasn't really justified his 125 Million € pricetag and his massive salary believed to be in the range of 20-40 million € a year. A Griezmann-Saúl swap deal with Atletico which was in the process has also now been declared improbable. Griezmann is now being heavily linked with a move to the Premier League, but reports also say that the forward wants to stay in Spain only. Barca are in serious trouble if the Frenchman ends up staying.

By far the biggest flop in Barcelona's recent history, the club is in dire need to get rid of the Brazilian. Coutinho, once counted amongst the greatest midfielders when in Liverpool, hasn't really found his form in the 2 seasons (plus 1 away on loan at Bayern) that he has spent at Barcelona, most certainly not justifying his whopping 160 million € pricetag.

Why did this transfer even happen? Arthur was playing well, and he should've been given longer to prove his worth. Barca's midfield is already stacked, and Busi is still going strong. It is clear that Koeman doesn't see Pjanić in his plans, and the 8 million € that the club pays each year to Pjanić should be freed.

The French centre duo NEEDS to go. There is no space for Umtiti, who has become slow, and injury prone. Lenglet on the other hand has made too many mistakes, and in my personal opinion, the Culers are better off without him. Harsh, but that's just how it is.

The club and the player have agreed terms, only Barca's wage cap problem needs to be solved. Though it's a massive mountain to climb, most are hopeful that some big names will leave this season to make space for the GOAT. The club, the player and the league all want him to continue playing for the Catalan giants, and hopefully, a solution will be reached soon, when Messi comes back from his vacation at the start of August.