Barcelona Transfer News Roundup: Barca in race against time to register new signings, Benfica interested in Blaugrana defender and more - 12 August 2021

Barcelona's problems are far from over even after the club missed out on renewing Lionel Messi's contract.

Lionel Messi has left Barcelona and officially joined Paris Saint-Germain. Barcelona will kick off their new season in a matter of days but are yet to register their new signings. It will be interesting to see what business the Catalans will be able to pull off in the rest of the summer transfer window.

Without further ado, let's take a look at the top stories involving Barcelona from 12 August 2021.

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Barcelona inform Ronald Koeman that there will be no more signings

FC Barcelona v Juventus - Joan Gamper Trophy

Reliable Spanish journalist Toni Juanmarti claims that Barcelona have informed manager Ronald Koeman that the club will make no more signings this summer. The club has severe financial issues and have had to let go of Lionel Messi this summer as their wage bill is way above the La Liga salary cap.

Koeman reportedly met with the Barcelona board and sounded out the idea of signing a striker and a midfielder before the end of the transfer window. The club, however, is currently focusing on offloading players to trim their wage bill and cannot dedicate their resources towards signing players.

Koeman asked Barcelona to sign a new midfielder & forward following Aguero's injury & Messi's departure, but he has been told that new signings are very unlikely. The arrival of a new forward could only happen if Braithwaite is sold for a good price. #FCB [@tjuanmarti] pic.twitter.com/kS2CDzxCYU

— Football Talk (@Football_TaIk) August 12, 2021

Benfica keen on signing Samuel Umtiti

FC Barcelona v Gimnastic de Tarragona - Friendly Match

Barcelona are desperate to offload quite a few of their first-team players this summer. Samuel Umtiti is among the players who are tipped to leave the Camp Nou this summer.

According to Portuguese daily Record (Sport Witness), Benfica are interested in signing Samuel Umtiti. Benfica centre-back Jan Vertonghen is out injured and the Portuguese outfit are in search of a quality defender.

Umtiti has made 132 appearances across all competitions for the Catalans and has scored two goals as well.

Barcelona are willing to part with the playe. But moving to a club like Benfica will require Umtiti to take a paycut. Otherwise Barcelona will need to send him out on loan while shouldering part of his wages.

❌ Benfica would have offered 10M for Samuel Umtiti but sources close to Umtiti say that the player doesn't think of that possibility (via @ap_angelperez)

— FCBarcelonaFl (@FCBarcelonaFl) August 12, 2021

Barcelona confident of registering new signings before weekend

Italy v Spain - UEFA Euro 2020: Semi-final

Barcelona will kickstart their 2021-22 La Liga season against Real Sociedad on Sunday. The Catalans are yet to register their new signings Eric Garcia, Memphis Depay, Sergio Aguero and Emerson Royal.

They are currently looking to offload the likes of Martin Braithwaite, Samuel Umtiti and Miralem Pjanic, among others. According to Catalunya Radio, Barcelona are confident of registering their new signings before Sunday's game against Real Sociedad.

Sergio Aguero has been ruled out with an injury and Eric Garcia has just returned after taking part at the Olympics. As a result, Barcelona need to only register Memphis Depay and Emerson in the meantime.