Barcelona have wrapped up a piece of administrative business that has, in recent years, become almost as nerve-wracking as the transfers themselves.
Joao Cancelo has been successfully registered with La Liga, becoming the fourth of Barcelona’s summer signings to be cleared in time for the new season.
Rodri, Karim Adeyemi and Anthony Gordon were all registered on Friday, with Cancelo’s paperwork following through today, completing the set just two days before Barcelona’s league opener.
That trip to Elche now arrives with Hansi Flick able to call upon his entire summer intake from the very first matchday, a rare luxury for a club that has spent recent windows scrambling to get deals over the line.
Barcelona’s well-documented salary cap issues have forced awkward last-minute manoeuvring in previous seasons, with new arrivals sometimes left waiting weeks to be cleared to play.
This time, the club are working back under La Liga’s 1:1 Financial Fair Play rule, giving them considerably more breathing room in the market than they’ve had in years.
Cancelo’s arrival was confirmed as a free transfer after the 32-year-old terminated his contract with Al Hilal, bringing an early end to a Saudi Arabian spell that yielded little beyond regular wages.
He put pen to paper on a deal running until June 2029, returning to Catalonia for a third stint after two separate loan spells, including the second half of last season when he helped Flick’s side retain the La Liga title.
The move was reportedly a personal request from Flick himself, who had enjoyed working with the full-back during that loan spell and pushed hard for a permanent reunion.
Joao Cancelo didn’t hide his relief at getting the move done, having reportedly made his feelings clear to Al Hilal well before an agreement was finally reached.
“I am very happy, I had already been waiting for it and thought it would be easier to get over the line,” he said following his arrival in Barcelona.
With Rodri, Adeyemi, Gordon and now Cancelo all officially registered, attention turns to Sunday night’s trip to the Estadio Manuel Martinez Valero, where Flick will have his full squad of options available for the first time.
Whether Rodri and Cancelo actually feature remains to be seen, given how little time either has had on the training pitch with their new teammates so far.
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