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Despite all of the big buys and decisions over the last month, it’s largely been a summer so far of transfers that haven’t quite happened yet, of players being strongly linked with clubs, of terms being agreed on and then … a delay. There’s always some of that, of course, but this summer the major problem is Barcelona and the incredibly complicated state of the club’s finances.
Club president Joan Laporta, elected last year, has insisted Barcelona is back after the humiliation of losing Lionel Messi on a free transfer to Paris Saint-Germain, having allowed his contract to run down and then being unable to re-register him because of the club’s financial strife. And this summer Barcelona seems to have been in for just about every high-profile player available.
