Barcelona’s answer to crippling debts and years of financial mismanagement has been to sign a raft of expensive new players. Their punishment, or the latest one at least, is that two days before the start of La Liga, they have no idea if they will be allowed to play them.
Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha, Jules Koundé, Franck Kessié and Andreas Christensen, signed this summer for a total of more than €150 million (£126 million), will all be preparing to make their debuts against Rayo Vallecano at the Nou Camp on Saturday. Ousmane Dembélé, whose contract expired and was then renewed in July, will be too. But some or all of them could instead be sitting in the stands, their registration still pending, as they wait for
