Barcelona were initially expected to return to the newly renovated Camp Nou in November 2024 to celebrate the club's 125th anniversary. However, three months later, there is still no clarity on when this will happen. The club and its president have consistently promised that the team would return this season, but now that seems unlikely.
After initially pushing the return date back to February, recent reports suggested that Barcelona aimed to leave Montjuic before the end of the season, allowing them to host the final few games of the year at Camp Nou. The highly anticipated Clasico clash with Real Madrid, scheduled for the weekend of May 11th, was marked as a potential return date. This would have enabled Barcelona to increase their hosting capacity to 60,000 and significantly boost their income.
However, according to Sport, Barcelona have now abandoned hope of hosting games at Camp Nou this season. As construction group Limak works to install the third tier, it remains uncertain whether the team will be able to return to Camp Nou at the start of next season. Additionally, Barcelona have subcontracted the building of their VIP boxes and the director's area to local businesses rather than Limak.
The work on the third tier is incompatible with hosting games, and Barcelona are eager to have the structure in place before next season. This will allow them to use the summer of 2026 to add the roof on top.
Ultimately, this delay will significantly impact the club's finances, as the budget for the season relied on a substantial boost in stadium income. This, in turn, will affect their squad spending power this summer, creating additional challenges for Director of Football Deco.
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Barcelona opens talks with Saudi Arabia for a summer move via Jorge Mendes.
While last summer the recently arrived Hansi Flick made it clear he was willing to give Ansu Fati another go at Barcelona and spoke highly of him in preseason, the 22-year-old forward has had less of a look-in than ever before at the club. The La Masia graduate appears set for an exit; it just remains a matter of when.
Fati has two years left on his contract this summer, and it looks like a very real possibility that he could see that. The Blaugrana handed a lucrative contract to Fati, making him one of the highest-paid players at the club, but since then, injuries have taken a severe toll on the young forward both physically and mentally.
This season he has featured for just 186 minutes across eight appearances, only one of which was a start. Missing the first month of the season through a foot injury and a further month through a hamstring issue in November and December, Fati has now been left out of the squad entirely for 11 games this season, despite being fit.
A clear message that he is no longer in the club’s plans. Sport says that much has been clear for several months, and despite links to a move in January, neither Flick nor Barcelona nor agent Jorge Mendes could convince him to leave at the time. However, given his salary and their salary limit struggles, Barcelona is keen to make that happen in the summer and has already begun efforts to do so.
Their information is that through agent Jorge Mendes, Barcelona have made contact with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates in order to try and secure a move for him this summer. However, they will still have to convince Fati of a move, something that has so far proved impossible.
Barcelona would also be open to a loan move in the summer, but it would have to ensure much of his salary was taken care of. The likes of Sevilla and Girona have enquired about Fati in the past, but the amount of his salary they could take on is too low to interest the Blaugrana.
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Barcelona would also be open to a loan move in the summer, but it would have to ensure much of his salary was taken care of. The likes of Sevilla and Girona have enquired about Fati in the past, but the amount of his salary they could take on is too low to interest the Blaugrana.
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