– Didier Deschamps will stop his France players from wearing jewellery in Saturday’s World Cup quarterfinal against England after saying Jules Kounde was “very lucky” to escape his anger for being told to remove a gold necklace during Sunday’s 3-1 win against Poland.
– Barcelona defender Kounde was forced off the pitch in the 43rd minute of the Round of 16 tie at Al Thumama after referee Jesus Valenzuela spotted the full-back’s gold chain on the outside of his shirt.
– One of Deschamps’ assistants had to remove Kounde’s necklace while the player attempted to take a throw-in with the 24-year-old unable to take it off himself.
– And although the incident didn’t impact on France’s progression to the last eight, Deschamps said there will not be a repeat of his players wearing jewellery on the pitch.
– “He [Kounde] shouldn’t have started the game with that on,” Deschamps said. “I don’t know what he has on the necklace, but I know he’s a bit superstitious and he wears it in training too.
– “I don’t know what the necklace meant to him, but I told him he was very lucky that I didn’t catch him in front of me at that moment.
– “The referee told us that as soon as there was a stoppage in play, he had to take it off. If I had seen him wearing it in the dressing room, I’d have told him to take it off before he even went onto the pitch.
– “You can’t play football wearing sunglasses or a watch or ring. It’s not allowed. I thought he’d taken it off, but he hadn’t. It’s our fault, our mistake, and it won’t happen again.”
– Defending world champions France face England at Al Bayt Stadium on Saturday with the two countries set to meet in a World Cup for the first time England achieved a 3-1 win in their opening group game at the 1982 World Cup in Spain.
– The two nations have not played each other since France claimed a 3-2 victory in Paris in June 2017.
Robert Lewandowski(Center) and Barcelona Directors
Mueez Ajao
– Barcelona’s sporting director Jordi Cruyff says “the city is alive again” following the arrival of players who “chose to follow their dream” rather than money.
– Last season was a turbulent year for Barca as they wrestled with their £1.15bn financial debt, which forced them to let iconic forward Lionel Messi join Paris St-Germain for free.
– Their off-pitch problems and the weakness of their team meant they were no opposition for arch-rivals Real Madrid, who won the Spanish title comfortably and then added the Champions League.
– It was the first time since 2003-04 that Barca have gone three years without winning the league.
– The club have however managed to bring in a host of new signings this summer, including Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and Jules Kounde.
– “Barcelona has a magnet, it is beautiful,” Cruyff told Spanish football expert Guillem Balague before the Cruyff Legacy Summit, where Arsene Wenger, Ronald Koeman and Sarina Wiegman are scheduled to speak.
– “You can see the pride in the eyes of the players when they get a chance to sign for Barcelona and that has helped a lot, being able to compete with clubs with bigger budgets and better salaries.
– “They wanted to sign for Barcelona and we are very grateful for these players because, believe me, they had better offers than us.
– “And still they chose to follow their dream to be part of the history. When you see the eyes shining in these players you know you are in a special place.”
Joan Laporta and Jordi Cruyff
– Barca are unbeaten after five games so far this season and Xavi’s side thrashed Viktoria Plzen 5-1 in their Champions League opener on Wednesday.
– Cruyff added: “The team has started really well, with the manager doing a really good job. He has a positive headache… he has a good squad to choose from.
– “If that continues the right way, the city is alive again. Even for the smaller games, [the Nou Camp] is a sell-out and that shows the mood.
– “You see how the people are so happy with the players that have joined. You feel it is alive again and this club needed that.”
– Jordi Cruyff and his fellow Barcelona directors helped secure the signing of striker Robert Lewandowski this summer.
– With the club’s debt having reached more than £1bn, Barcelona were unable to sign Messi on a new contract under La Liga’s financial fair play (FFP) rules.
– They are more complex than Uefa’s FFP regulations as they include Economic Control and Squad Cost Limit rules, and they apply before rather after any regulations are broken – so La Liga clubs know how much they can spend in advance.
– It also means the league can prevent clubs registering new players if they cannot pay their wages while adhering to La Liga’s strict FFP rules.
– “I have noticed 99% of the people don’t understand Spanish financial fair play, how to fit that puzzle,” said Cruyff.
– “It is something you won’t understand in one hour, it is more complex and complicated. Even when you have money, you can’t spend it.”
– Cruyff, the club’s sporting director, says his role is in between the manager and the director of football Mateu Alemany.
– “I had a taste as a coach and a sporting director and you never know, maybe one day I will go back on the pitch to coach,” he added.
– “In Barcelona the triangle is the coach and assistant, football director Mateu – who is a financial fair play specialist and negotiator, and I am between. Understanding with numbers but with the mind of coach.
– “Barcelona is a very special club but a lot of clubs don’t have the patience these days, it is very difficult to find that. In every club there is a short-term project, medium and long term. My job is to understand the short term, but to try to co-ordinate that with the medium term and sometimes long term.
– Previously, La Liga’s 1/4 rule meant clubs needed a four-penny saving to be able to invest one. Now it is a 1/1 rule, meaning every penny the club saves can be invested in new players.
– Barca have reduced the wages of some existing players and also activated several ‘economic levers’ that allowed them to firstly pay transfer fees for Lewandowski, Raphinha and Kounde, and then to register them along with Andreas Christensen and Franck Kessie, who they signed on free transfers.
– The economic levers included selling a percentage of their future television rights and of their media production unit Barca Studios, an approach that led to accusations that president Joan Laporta is gambling with the club’s long-term future.
– Cruyff said: “The news that has come out about us is not always accurate and I understand people listen to that and think what Barcelona has done is maybe not elegant.
– “That is a question of understanding fair play. Our job was to, inside the strict rules of Spanish football, improve the team. Now we have a squad that can compete with everything.”
– Robert Lewandowski scored a hat-trick against Viktoria Plzen last week on his Champions League debut for Barca.
– Barca made a host of free transfers during the course of last season, including Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who they sold to Chelsea in a £10.3m deal on deadline day.
– Although the club spent almost £150m on transfer fees this summer, former Bayern Munich forward Lewandowski is the only one of their main summer signings who is older than 27.
– “Most of the players we have brought in have a lot of years in front [of them], have a transfer value,” said Cruyff.
– “We have made financially good decisions because you can see in the last week of the window how values have gone up.
– “We have a squad for the future. The future is here and the present is here. We have things we need to improve but the club had to make that decision in the summer.
– “January 2022 was not a moment to buy four or five players and repair what we needed to repair. In January we looked at the short term, now we looked at short, middle and long term.”
– Barca may have spent more on Raphinha and Lewandowski may have turned 34 in August, but the Poland striker, winner of the past two Fifa player of the year awards, was arguably their biggest signing.
– With one year left on his contract at Bayern, Lewandowski said he wished to leave and once the German club agreed to consider offers, he reportedly made it clear Barcelona was his preferred destination.
– Lewandowski has already scored eight goals from five appearances for Barca and faces his former club in the Champions League on Tuesday.
– “It is not what Lewandowski says, it is what he shows, that he still has that desire to chase the ball at 3-0 up,” Cruyff added. “There is a desire for more.
– “All the players have that. All the players understand this club can’t have many more seasons like last season.
– “Players at this club know they have to deliver. The fans are coming because they feel something is building here.”
– One of Barcelona’s newest summer signings commented on his decision to come to the Camp Nou this year. Jules Koundé, arriving from Sevilla, chatted about the ease of the decision to choose Barcelona over Chelsea.
– “It’s (Barcelona) still a club that generates a lot of excitement,” he said.
– “Talking to the manager was also important. He gave me a lot of confidence and I liked the way he saw football. It was an easy decision because it was everything I was looking for.
– In the short time he’s been on the pitch for Barca, it’s easy to tell why Koundé was so desired around Europe. He’s going to be a thrill to watch this year and I’m glad the decision was so easy for him.
– Jules Kounde has finally been officially registered with LaLiga, meaning Barcelona will be able to field him in their Sunday night match against Real Valladolid at the Camp Nou.
– After being signed from Sevilla, the centre-back couldn’t feature against Rayo Vallecano or Real Sociedad in the first two matchdays of the new season since there wasn’t space in Barcelona’s salary limit to register him.
– After Xavi said during his Saturday press conference that he was confident about the player being registered in time for the next game, the official confirmation has come through this Saturday evening.
– After various adjustments and negotiations, and the activation of several levers, Barcelona have now managed to balance the numbers enough for LaLiga to approve the inclusion of the Frenchman.
– The Catalan club didn’t expect it to be so difficult to register their new signings with LaLiga, but now they have managed to and Kounde is now available, just like Robert Lewandowski, Franck Kessie, Raphinha and Andreas Christensen.
– Barcelona still have work to do, though, as they want to announce Gavi’s contract renewal and try to register Marcos Alonso too.
– Barcelona have failed to register summer signing Jules Kounde in time for Sunday’s LaLiga game against Real Sociedad.
– Kounde arrived for €55 million from Sevilla in July and is the only one of Barça’s six summer signings yet to be registered.
– Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha, Franck Kessie and Andreas Christensen were all registered last Friday, just 24 hours ahead of the opening game against Rayo Vallecano at Camp Nou, a goalless draw.
– Pablo Torre has a youth registration for now and has been included in the squad to travel to San Sebastian this weekend.
– Barca have sold club assets worth over €700m this summer to improve their financial situation and are now operating with a 1:1 ratio when it comes to new signings.
– That means they can spend whatever they make in fees or save in wages on new players — they were previously working with a 1:4 ratio.
– However, they do not yet have enough space within their LaLiga-imposed spending cap to register France international Kounde.
– Coach Xavi Hernandez said on Saturday inscribing the defender was a “priority” but that players would need to leave for it to be possible.
– Barca are negotiating the departures of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Memphis Depay with Chelsea and Juventus respectively, but both are in the squad to face La Real in San Sebastian.
– Sergino Dest is another player who could leave the club. Xavi has told him to leave and he has been left out of the squad for both of Barca’s league games this season.
Kessie, Christensen, Lewandowski, Raphinha and Kounde
Mueez Ajao
– Barcelona have registered four of their new signings in time for their first game of the season on Saturday.
– The Spanish club were unable to register new players because of La Liga financial regulations, but freed up funding with several ‘economic levers’.
– The fourth was activated on Friday and, now ratified by La Liga, Franck Kessie, Andreas Christensen, Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha can face Rayo Vallecano.
– The restriction also applied to players who have renewed their contracts this summer, namely Ousmane Dembele and Sergi Roberto, but both have also been registered.
– In order for Kounde to be registered, Barcelona will need to free up ‘salary mass’.
Barcelona registered players
– The club’s levers have involved selling shares of their future television rights and their media production unit Barca Studios.
– On Friday, they sold an additional 24.5% of Barca Studios to Orpheus Media for 100m euros (£84.6m), which was expected to generate even revenue to satisfy La Liga and allow Barca to register at least some of their new players.
– Speaking at his media conference on Friday, coach Xavi said Barca were “still working on it”, and had until two hours before kick-off for the registrations to be confirmed.
– Barca open their new campaign at home to Rayo Vallecano.
– Xavi Hernandez is breathing a sigh of relief this Friday afternoon as Barcelona have now pulled their fourth economic lever by selling 25 percent of Barca Studios.
– The news means that the Catalans will be able to register their new signings – and those who renewed their contracts at the club – ahead of their LaLiga Santander opener against Rayo Vallecano.
– Orpheus Media, run by Jaume Roures, have purchased 24.5 percent of Barca Studios, after Joan Laporta, Mateu Alemany and Rafa Yuste held a meeting on Thursday night.
– Barcelona sent off all of the relevant documentation on Friday morning for LaLiga to study.
FC Barcelona announces the sale of 24.5% of Barça Studios to the company Orpheus Media for an amount of 100 million euros. This sale will serve to accelerate the growth of the Club's digital, NFT, and Web3 strategy.
– Sergi Roberto and Ousmane Dembele will be registered again, alongside Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha, Jules Kounde, Franck Kessie and Andreas Christensen.
– It remains to be seen, though, if Barcelona will also need to offload Memphis Depay in order to register every single one of their summer signings. For now, the signs are good for the Azulgrana.
– Barcelona president Joan Laporta said the club have sold 24.5% of Barca Studios to Socios.com for €100 million to help register new signings.
– Barca have spent over €150m on Raphinha, Robert Lewandowski and Jules Kounde this summer, while Andreas Christensen and Franck Kessie have both arrived on free transfers.
– Following Laporta’s quotes, the club released a statement on Monday which read: “FC Barcelona announces the sale of 24.5% of Barça Studios to the company Socios.com for €100m to accelerate the club’s audiovisual, blockchain, NFT and Web.3 strategy.
– However, due to strict spending caps in LaLiga, the Blaugrana have so far been unable to register the new arrivals with the Spanish league.
– Having already sold 25% of their domestic television rights to investment fund Sixth Street for around €600m, Barca hope the deal with Socios.com will further ease their financial problems.
– “We’re doing our homework to be able to register players,” Laporta said after announcing the agreement Monday at the presentation of Kounde, a €55m signing from Sevilla.
Joan Laporta
– “We have done these financial operations to save the club and to sign new players. I hope we don’t have to do anymore.
– “It is a controlled risk. If we have to recover the plan of [selling further club assets], we will weigh it up, but we believe we can register the new signings with this deal.”
– Barca Studios is a subsidiary of the Catalan club that produces in-house and external television content, along with other productions.
– Laporta said Socios.com can also help with expansion into the metaverse and with non-fungible tokens. Barca last week sold their first NFT for over $600,000 at an auction in New York.
– Along with registering their new signings, Laporta said Barca are also now prioritising the departures of players who do not feature in coach Xavi Hernandez’s plans.
– Following Oscar Mingueza’s move to Celta Vigo, the club are working on finding solutions for Neto, Riqui Puig, Samuel Umtiti and Martin Braithwaite, who were all left out of the squad for the tour of the United States, while they will also listen to offers for Miralem Pjanic, Sergino Dest, Memphis Depay and Frenkie de Jong, among others.
– Laporta hopes that will allow the club to make further signings before the transfer window closes, with the president refusing to rule out a late move for Bernardo Silva.
– “First we have to register the players we have signed and resolve the futures of the players not in the manager’s plans,” Laporta said when asked about the Manchester City midfielder.
Joan Laporta
– “After that, we will see what we can do. The coach wants more reinforcements.”
– Barca’s spending and the sale of stakes in television rights and Barca Studios comes just a year after they were unable to afford to keep Lionel Messi, while the club’s gross debt still stands at over €1 billion.
– However, the vending of assets this summer has allowed them to turn to the transfer market, with Kounde becoming their latest signing last week.
– Kounde, 23, was also the subject of interest from Premier League side Chelsea, but he said a move to Camp Nou was always his first choice.
Jules Kounde and Joan Laporta
– “I had another opportunity [Chelsea] but I made an effort in the sense of waiting for Barca to reach an agreement with Sevilla, which was possible in the end,” the France international said at his presentation on Monday.
– “From there, I chose Barca. I was very clear about what I wanted. They are an ambitious club, I like the Spanish league a lot … so that was the effort I made, although it was not that much of an effort because I wanted to be here.”
– Jules Kounde has said that he chose Barcelona over Chelsea because of the ambitious project that they have in place at the Camp Nou, where he is one of many players to have joined this summer.
– The central defender signed for Barcelona last week after being pursued by a number of teams, most of all Premier League side Chelsea.
– Barcelona have paid a reported fee of 50 million euros to Sevilla for the French defender who has been a standout performer for some time in the Andalusian side.
– Barcelona have beaten Chelsea to the signing of defender Jules Kounde after agreeing a fee of around €55 million with Sevilla, sources told on Wednesday.
– Kounde, 23, was the subject of several bids from Chelsea last summer, and reports suggested he was close to a move to the English side at the end of last week.
– However, Barca upped their interest over the weekend, with sources telling that coach Xavi Hernandez’s insistence on signing the centre-back has been key in getting the deal over the line.
– It’s the second time during the transfer window that Barca have beaten Chelsea to a player. They also brought in Raphinha from Leeds United after the London club had agreed a fee for the forward.
– Barca president Joan Laporta also said in an interview last week that Chelsea, along with Paris Saint-Germain, had also tried to sign Robert Lewandowski, who joined the Blaugrana from Bayern Munich for €45m earlier this month.
– Kounde becomes Barca’s sixth signing of a busy summer following the arrivals of Pablo Torre, Franck Kessie, Andreas Christensen, Raphinha and Lewandowski.
– The France international joins Barca after three years in Spain with Sevilla, during which time he made 133 appearances, scoring nine goals. He joined Sevilla from Bordeaux for around €25m, and they are due a percentage of the fee from his switch to Camp Nou.
– He is Barca’s second centre-back signing of the summer after Christensen joined on a free transfer from Chelsea. Xavi also has Ronald Araujo, Gerard Pique and Eric Garcia as options at the back, while Kounde and Araujo can both play right-back, too.
– Barca’s spending has been fuelled by the sale of 25% of their domestic television rights to the investment firm Sixth Street for the next 25 years for around €530m. The rights are worth around €160m annually to the Catalan club.
– However, to get back within their LaLiga spending limit — which was -€144m at the end of last season, the only negative cap in the league — and to be able to register all their new signings, as well as the new contracts signed by Sergi Roberto and Ousmane Dembele, Barca still need to move other players on.
– Neto, Oscar Mingueza, Samuel Umtiti, Riqui Puig and Martin Braithwaite were all left out of the tour of the United States to allow them to find new clubs, while Barca are also open to offers for other first-team players.
