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The post-Lionel Messi era has kicked off at the Camp Nou and Barcelona have collected four points from their first two La Liga games of the season. Club president Joan Laporta and co. are still doing everything they can to trim their wage bill. They are looking to offload multiple players before the end of the transfer window.
Without further ado, let's take a look at the top stories involving Barcelona from 25 August 2021.
Sergio Busquets accepts further pay deduction
Barcelona veterans like Gerard Pique and Jordi Alba have already agreed to wage cuts and another senior player, Sergio Busquets, is now following suit. According to ESPN, the midfielder is taking 'substantial wage cuts'.
The report adds that Barcelona still owes money to Sergio Busquets from previous deferrals he took to help the club navigate the financial crisis during the pandemic.
Sergi Roberto is another senior player that the club have approached to take a wage cut. But even though Roberto is ready to take a wage cut, he is not willing to accept the terms proposed by the club.
Napoli, Roma and Fiorentina enter race to sign Miralem Pjanic
Barcelona have been looking to offload Miralem Pjanic all summer. The Bosnian international started just six games in La Liga in the 2020-21 season after joining from Juventus last summer. Barcelona want to get him off their books and trim their wage bill but they haven't been able to find a suitor for him.
According to Mundo Deportivo, Barcelona's chances of offloading Pjanic have received a major boost with Napoli entering the race to sign him. Napoli manager Luciano Spalletti has reportedly already spoken to Pjanic about the move.
Roger Torello of Mundo Deportivo claims that Fiorentina and Roma are also interested in signing Pjanic. He further claims that Pjanic's future will be resolved in the next few days.
The 31-year-old is looking for an exit route from Barcelona as he knows it is the only way to get regular game time this season.
Ronald Koeman lists five players he doesn't want at Barcelona
According to RAC1’s Gerard Romero, Ronald Koeman has prepared a list of five players he wants offloaded before the end of the transfer window. Miralem Pjanic, Samuel Umtiti, Riqui Puig, Rey Manaj and and Alex Collado are the players on that list.
Pjanic is trying to engineer a move back to Serie A and Napoli are the latest entrants in the race to sign him. Samuel Umtiti wants to kick on at Barcelona and prove to Ronald Koeman that he can contribute to the team.
Young striker Rey Manaj featured regularly for Barcelona in pre-season. But Ronald Koeman has deemed him surplus to requirements. La Masia products Riqui Puig and Alex Collado are the last two players on the list.
