Gündogan, registered in LaLiga, can no longer leave on a free transfer
The German midfielder would have been able to leave if he could not be registered for the opening day. He is the second to be registered in the first team after Araújo,
With little over 24 hours before their 2023/24 season opener in Getafe, Barça saved another match-ball. LaLiga registered Ilkay Gündogan as a Barça player on its official website and in doing so, prevented the German player from being released. If he couldn’t was unable to play in the first game of the new season, Gundo would have been able to leave on a free transfer.
New income, in the form of a ‘re-leverage’ and for Dembélé's transfer to PSG (officially, €50.4 million pending what happens with 50% of that amount - an issue that still has to be be discussed legally) has allowed Barça, for now, to register Ronald Araújo and Gündogan.
Now we must wait and see what happens in the remaining hours of Saturday and Sunday. Barça has so far registered a total of 13 players: Ter Stegen, Araújo, Christensen, Koundé, Eric, Gavi, Pedri, De Jong, Gündogan, Ferran, Lewandowski, Ansu and Raphinha. In the next few hours, the club will try to get the green light from LaLiga to register Iñaki Peña, Sergi Roberto, Marcos Alonso, Oriol Romeu and Abde. Alejandro Balde and Lamine Yamal could play using the letter of being subsidiary players - especially in the case of the former, who has yet to sign his renewal. Iñigo Martínez’s registration is less urgent because the former Athletic central defender is still recovering from injury and will not be available for the Getafe game.