Franck Kessie and Andreas Christensen are poised to becoming Barcelona's first two signings this summer, although the Spanish club are still yet to make offically announce deals for the duo.
However, multiple reports already confirm that both of these players, who will be free agents upon their contract expiry this June, are definitely making the switch to Camp Nou for the 2022/23 season according to renowned transfer journalist Fabrizio Romano.
Barcelona president Joan Laporta had previously revealed back in March that deals were concluded for two players, although he didn't reveal specifics of which players in question.
For Barcelona fans who continue to wonder why their signatures have not been made official, the reason has now come to light.
According to a report from Sport, Barcelona cannot register these players in La liga because they currently lack of room for that, going by the club’s wage budget.
Barcelona budget hiccup
Barcelona's economical situation has been a lingering issue at the Catalan club for about a year now.
It is for this same reason that Argentine maestro Lionel Messi, was unable to sign a new deal with the club last season - which eventually saw him make a shock switch to Ligue 1 giants Paris St Germain.
This same issue has also prompted the club to have key players reduce their salary levels and convince eventual signings to accept significant pay-cuts in order to have free agents like Memphis Depay and Eric Garcia available for the opening game of 2021/22 when it already seemed certain, they would both might miss out at the start of the season.
Reducing the wage budget at the club also requires Barcelona to offload players.
Some reports have also suggested that Barca could offload certain big earners to free up the wage bill wth the likes Dutch midfielder Frenkie De Jong continued to be linked with a summer transfer to Manchester United.
Barcelona could also choose to massively terminate the contracts of some fringe players, effectively allowing them to find new clubs on free transfers.
Regardless, deals for AC Milan midfielder Franck Kessie and Chelsea defender Andreas Christensen are still very close to completion, pending Barcelona's announcement of their signatures which really looks more like a question of 'when' and not 'if'.