Mateu Alemany: 'Gavi will continue at Barça'

The presentation of Franck Kessie as a new Barça player also saw other names come to the fore. Barça midfielder Gavi was a topic of conversation due to his pending contract renewal. On this very subject, director of football Mateu Alemany was clear: "There is an outline of an agreement. We are highly committed to sorting out this situation. He is 17 years of age and we are waiting until he turns 18 on 5 August so he can sign a contract longer than three years. We have small details to close out but we will get it resolved. 100% Gavi will continue at Barça." 

Ousmane Dembélé

On Frenchman Dembéle, the Club's president Joan Laporta commented that 'there is no date set'. He continued: "We are in an uncertain situation. Right now we cannot sign players because we still have to resolve the financial fair play issues. We are talking to players that interest us so they can wait. Ousmane now is not a Barça player but we have made him an offer for sporting reasons He has not managed to accept our proposal but he wants to continue talking. For us, for the moment, we will continue talking." 

"The wage balance is necessary for the team to be competitive and all the negotiations come in this context. We are not in a hurry, even though we are aware we cannot wait too long. Players we have verbal agreements with understand the situation. Nobody can expect us not to act with maximum caution." 

Frenkie de Jong

Another name that came up was that of Frenkie de Jong. President Laporta also commented on the Dutch midfielder: "He is a Barça player and we, if we do not need to, will not sell him because we do not want to sell him. We know that he has offers but at the moment we are not considering them." 

Future arrivals 

Both director of football Mateu Alemany and Barça president Joan Laporta touched on the Club's financial situation. Both men agreed that more arrivals are planned, "when we can register them." The message was an optimistic one: "We will compete for trophies. I send a calm message to Barça fans: this season we will have a more competitive team." 

To be able to bring in more players, "first we have to activate the second lever," said president Laporta. "It will not be easy but we are working on it. We we do, we will have a 1:1 ratio with regards to fair play and we will be able to make official the desired arrivals. The technical team are working on the coach's requests. I won't say how many signings we will make but we are committed to strengthening the squad." 

On the registration of players already signed, Mateu Alemany was clear: "With regards to fair play, you know the rule. To register Sergi Roberto, Kessie and Christensen we will have to reduce the wage bill. When we have the second lever activated, we will get to 1:1 and it will make it easier. It happened to us last season and in the end we were able to register all our signings. One way or another, whatever happens, we will do it."