LALIGA SANTANDER
Barcelona’s big problem for next season as court rejects Gavi registration
Barça’s appeal to register Gavi as a first-team player has been thrown out. LaLiga’s salary cap is a huge issue for 2023-24.
Things are going pretty smoothly for Barcelona on the field at the moment, with their controversial Clásico victory over Real Madrid moving them 12 points clear at the top of LaLiga with 12 matches left to play. Things off the field are another matter entirely, however, and the latest setback is conformation that teenage midfielder Gavi will have to be registered as a youth-team player once again. The Commercial Court in Barcelona had already ruled that this would be the case on March 13 and have now doubled down on their decision following Barça’s appeal.
Barça must reduce their wage bill for next season
The 18-year-old will go back to being officially registered as a youth or reserve-team player, which won’t prevent him from playing first-team games. The issue for Barcelona is when it comes to next season. As things stand, they’ll be unable to register Gavi as a first-team player, as was stipulated would happen when he renewed his contract, because of LaLiga’s salary cap. In order for the Spanish international to be register with the first team for 2023-24, they must drastically slash their wage bill.
What cards do Barcelona have left to play?
In dismissing Barcelona’s appeal, the Commercial Court confirmed that the club’s petition for a precautionary measure to be issued, forcing LaLiga to register Gavi as a first-team player, had been made after the deadline. The measure has therefore been lifted, leaving Barça with just one possible card left to play: they have 20 days to launch a second appeal to the Barcelona Provincial Court.
Gavi’s eventful Clásico
Gavi was at the centre of one of several storms during El Clásico, violently shoving Real Madrid midfielder Dani Ceballos to the ground when the ball was nowhere near either of them. In the aftermath of the game, Los Blancos were outraged that VAR wasn’t used to retrospectively punish the teenager, particularly given the fact that the technology did intervene to disallow a Marco Asensio goal for a marginal offside call.