Barcelona defender Jules Kounde has still not been registered by the Catalan club for LaLiga and will play no part in Sunday night's clash with Real Sociedad.
Kounde was signed by Barça for €55 million from Sevilla earlier this summer, but was not registered in time for last Saturday's LaLiga opener against Rayo Vallecano and also misses this weekend's trip to San Sebastian.
All of the other new signings – Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha, Franck Kessie and Andreas Christensen – were registered the day before Barcelona's first match, along with contract renewals Ousmane Dembele and Sergi Roberto.
But Barça could not raise the sufficient funds to register all of the players – in line with LaLiga's FFP-style rules on income and spending – and with Kounde recovering from a minor injury and the Blaugrana well stocked in defence, it was decided that the French centre-back could wait.
Barcelona have sold off parts of their in-house production company and a percentage of their future domestic television rights in order to raise funds for new transfers this summer, activating 'financial levers' to invest despite their huge debts.
But Barça now need to sell players before they can bring in any more and do not have the funds available at present to register Kounde.
The Catalan club now have only 10 days left to register Kounde, who is reported to be unhappy at his situation, before the transfer window closes at the end of August.
Defender Samuel Umtiti is expected to join Lecce on loan for the remainder of this season, while Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Martin Braithwaite, Memphis Depay and Sergiño Dest are all up for sale.
Aubameyang is interesting Chelsea, while Braithwaite could link up with his former Leganes coach Javier Aguirre at Mallorca.
Meanwhile, Catalunya Radio reported on Friday that the 23-year-old has a clause in his contract allowing him to leave for free if he is not registered for LaLiga by the end of this month.
Whatever happens, Barça remain confident there will be no issues with Kounde, although the situation is something of an embarrassment for the Catalan club.
Barcelona still hope to bring in a right-back before the end of the window, with Chelsea's Marcos Alonso and Villarreal's Juan Foyth two targets, but Kounde's registration is the priority right now.
