Gary Neville has cheekily asked if Barcelona can give his beloved Manchester United their new signings, who Camp Nou chiefs currently can't register with La Liga.
The Old Trafford legend issued his plea after the Red Devils lost 2-1 to Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday to get Erik ten Hag 's reign off to a nightmare start. United showed that their deep-rooted deficiencies still remain despite a promising pre-season and three new signings, proving that there's work to do before the summer transfer window closes on September 1.
His former club's calamitous opening to the 2022-23 Premier League campaign prompted Neville to ask a Barcelona fan on Twitter if they could lend the Red Devils a helping hand. "Can we have some of the players you can't register?" the player-turned-pundit tweeted alongside a laughing emoji.
Barca have been one of the busiest clubs in the transfer market this summer by making five signings, but as things stand are unable to register any of them ahead of the new domestic season due to their well-documented financial woes and outstanding debt. The Blaugrana need to offload a number of players in order to comply with La Liga's stringent financial fair play laws, with Frenkie de Jong the headline castoff.
Memphis Depay and Samuel Umtiti are two more stars who Barcelona hope they can move on before they welcome Rayo Vallecano to the Camp Nou next Saturday, August 13. Barca have splashed the cash to bring in Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha, Jules Kounde, Andreas Christensen and Franck Kessie for a combined £143million.
Club president Joan Laporta says that the Blaugrana are now "out of hospital" when it comes to their financial predicament but stressed that his fellow bigwigs must remain cautious In the new future. "It's been a very difficult year for us," Laporta admitted at Lewandowski's unveiling.
"We've had so many big decisions to make and with a lot of pressure. A year later, we are turning the situation around. We have to continue to work. But we can say from a financial standpoint, we are out of the hospital. We still have to be cautious.
"Barca has brought in €800m (£675m) in the past two months. We have made a great effort. We have had to sell some assets but we can get those back in the future. We are working to help Barca return to be a reference in football. We are getting back to the place we belong."
Meanwhile at Old Trafford, United can't seem to get anyone over the line after working hard to secure Tyrell Malacia, Christian Eriksen and Lisandro Martinez earlier in the window. Despite targeting multiple players to sign before deadline day - most notably top priority De Jong - Ten Hag's focus is on improving with the options currently at his disposal after the disastrous defeat to Brighton.
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"We could do better with the players we had," the Dutchman stated post-match. "We made mistakes on the ball and organisation mistakes in defending. We have to take the lessons and learn quickly from it. Brighton are a decent team, all the compliments, but I look to my team and we should not give two easy goals away."
On the transfer front, Ten Hag added: "I don't go into names and I think in this pre-season 250 players are involved or linked with us, so that's it."
