Barcelona need to free up over £400M this summer – reports

Barcelona are currently in a pickle. The Catalan giants are looking to reduce their wage bill in order to register new signings and renew Lionel Messi's contract.

As per a Daily Star report, Barcelona need to slash £441 million from their wage bill this summer to avoid falling foul of La Liga's salary cap rules. The report claims the Catalan side have racked up a staggering debt of £1.1 billion.

Barcelona have signed Sergio Aguero, Eric Garcia, and Memphis Depay on free transfers this summer, while the likes of Junior Firpo and Matheus Fernandes have left the club. High earners such as Antoine Griezmann and Philippe Coutinho are also expected to be shipped out in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, the club are looking to tie down Lionel Messi to a new contract. The Argentine's deal expired at the end of last season and the club cannot renew his contract until they reduce their wage bill.

Reports in Spain suggest Messi has agreed a deal with Barcelona and is waiting for them to get the green signal from LaLiga. The Argentine has reportedly signed a five-year contract with his wages reduced by around 50%.

Barcelona to be offered no help by LaLiga

LaLiga president Javier Tebas has confirmed the league will not be bending the rules for Barcelona or any other club this summer. Tebas insisted Lionel Messi's contract situation at Barcelona will not change his mind, and the club have to reduce their wage bill as soon as possible.

"No, I won't [turn a blind eye] for Messi, it's impossible," Tebas told Radio Marca. There are many workers [at LaLiga] and in the economic control [department] as well. This is a right that the clubs have and we have to safeguard the integrity of LaLiga."

"We often have to explain [the economic controls] to agents and players because they don't know about it or think clubs are deceiving them, and we've had to explain it in recent years. We'll have to analyse everything properly, because if there are dismissals for economic reasons but then they bring in Messi and others... we'd have to look into that."