Football Club de Barcelona has succeeded in their quest to reduce their payroll in order to register new signing Ferran Torres without breaching the Financial fair play (FFP) regulation.
The Spanish club signed Ferran in a combined fee amounting to £55m from Manchester City this January but was unable to register the Spaniard as they needed to make a drastic reduction on their wage bill.
The club made an announcement on Monday that Samuel Umtiti has renewed his contract with the club with a significant drop on his current wages meaning they are now eligible to register Ferran after they succeeded in reducing their salaries schedule.
“Through this contract extension, FC Barcelona will be able to increase its ‘financial fair play’ quota and thus register Ferran Torres with the Spanish Professional Football League.”
Barcelona allowed midfielder Phillipe Coutinho joined Aston Villa in a loan deal that saw Coutinho reduce his wages to suit the 65% agreement the Premier league side agreed to pay leaving Barça to pay nothing as his salary while on loan.
Although Coutinho showed a great understanding in this situation for Barça, it was not enough to register a new signing, Torres who awaits his time for his debut for his new club.
Turkish club Fernanbache approached the French defender for a loan but he rejected and only wanted a deal around Europe’s top five leagues and a champions league football.
But Umtiti has extended his deal till the summer of 2026.
Samuel Umtiti has reduced his salary by 10% + will receive 1.5 years salary in 3 years + has an option to leave FC Barcelona for free next summer.
This deal has many complications as the French defender can as well leave for free next summer should he still spend more time on the sidelines and decide to leave.
The club said: “Barcelona and first-team player Samuel Umtiti have reached an agreement to extend the latter’s contract until 30 June 2026.
“The French defender is reducing a part of the salary that he was due to receive in the year and a half remaining on his contract. This contract extension operation does not entail any greater financial commitments for FC Barcelona with regard to the player.” Sky Sports reports.
