Barcelona attacker Marcus Rashford is among the interested spectators waiting to find out the results of a legal battle that could shape the start of the season for the Spanish champions.
Rashford is one of five Barca stars – along with Joan Garcia, Roony Bardghji, Wojciech Szczesny and Gerard Martin – who faces an anxious wait to discover if the club can register him this season.
The Catalan side once again face Financial Fair Play (FFP) restrictions imposed on them by the Spanish League (LFP), limiting their spending on the transfer market but also imposing a tough wage cap on the club that means registering new players can be a juggling act. Indeed, this was why Barca had to release Lionel Messi back in 2021.
Ter Stegen crisis continues
Valuable space to register Rashford could be freed up on the wage bill if Barcelona can have Marc-Andre ter Stegen’s salary overlooked because of a long-term injury. The Germany goalkeeper, though, is in a heated dispute with the club and, Mundo Deportivo reports, is refusing to sign off key papers for the club.
This attitude, the club claims, is causing them “significant financial harm” and adversely “affects its sporting structure”.
Barcelona are hopeful that some legal manoeuvring will allow a tribunal to assess the case, despite La Liga insisting that Ter Stegen’s injury can only be assessed with the keeper’s approval.
“The player’s consent is essential in the document for medical data to be processed outside the club,” Dr Jordi Ardevol, a member of La Liga’s committee and former head of medical services at Barcelona, said last week.
Ter Stegen and Barca have spent much of the summer in dispute, with the club even offering to pay him off to leave as a free agent.
The feud continues to overshadow the preparations that Hansi Flick’s side are making for their La Liga defence, with uncertainty still surrounding their ability to register Rashford, Garcia & Co. before their first league match of the season against Mallorca on 16 August.
Even the soap opera that Rashford went through at Man Utd will not have prepared him for this.
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