Barcelona faces the start of the league season with a recurring problem year after year: registering its new footballers.
With only five days left before the debut against Mallorca, the club still needs to register eight players in LaLiga. This forces it to prioritize the order in which the signings will be formalized.
In this race against the clock, the first name on the list won't be an offensive star or a top-level signing, but a goalkeeper. Hansi Flick and the sporting management have decided that Joan García will be the first player registered, a choice that responds to sporting and strategic reasons.
The priority is the goal
The goalkeeper, who comes from Espanyol, is expected to be an important piece this season, and Flick wants to have him available from the very first minute. The debut against Mallorca is shaping up to be a key match to start the league on the right foot. The German coach believes that solidity between the posts is an indispensable guarantee.
This means that other signings, no matter how big their names are, will have to wait. Among them is Marcus Rashford, whose arrival from Manchester United had caused great excitement among Barcelona fans. However, LaLiga's bureaucracy and the club's financial situation force it to postpone his official debut.
Rashford will have to wait
The English forward won't be able to debut against Mallorca and will have to keep training while waiting for the club to unlock the salary cap and formalize his registration with a departure. Flick is already aware that he won't be able to count on him for the first matchday, something that affects the planning of the starting eleven.
Rashford thus joins a list of footballers waiting their turn to enter the competition. This group shows that the problems with registering players remain very present at Can Barça.
Five days and eight footballers left to register
The schedule is tight. Barça has just five days to register eight players before the ball starts rolling at Son Moix. This situation affects not only signings but also contract renewals and updates that require LaLiga's validation.
The sporting management is working tirelessly to close departures, adjust salaries, and meet the requirements of financial fair play. This isn't the first time the club has experienced a hectic August for this reason. The fact that so many operations remain pending with so few days before the debut is causing some unease in the environment.
The debut, affected
Flick will face the first official match with an incomplete squad and the need to improvise solutions. Without Rashford, the coach will have to trust players already registered and academy players to cover the absences.
Meanwhile, the Englishman watches from the sidelines and waits for his moment without getting nervous. His debut in the blaugrana jersey will have to wait, and it will depend on whether the club's administrative machinery manages to do its job in time.