Barcelona s new season starts unfavorable, and heavy new players may miss the league opening game

Barcelona will start the new season of La Liga defending their title on August 16, with their first away game against Majorca. However, the team's new player and England striker Marcus Rashford may miss the opening game due to registration issues.

Barcelona President Joan Laporta recently acknowledged this possibility. Rashford joined Barcelona on loan from Manchester United for one season this summer and is one of the team's four new players. Barcelona also introduced goalkeeper Joan Garcia from Espanyol for 25 million euros and signed Rooney Badge and Roger Martinez permanently.

Previously, Barcelona encountered the problem of player registration. The club had a disagreement with captain and goalkeeper Mark Andre Terstegan on the determination of his injury status, which once threatened the registration process of the new player. Barcelona currently has only one goalkeeper registered in the list, and neither Garcia nor another goalkeeper Voiceh Szczesni has completed the registration.

The core of the controversy is that if Ter Stegen is officially identified by La Liga as a long-term absent player (usually more than four months of injury), Barcelona can temporarily free up 80% of its salary space to register new players. However, Terstragins said on social media that it is expected to be injured for three months, which does not meet the criteria for a long absence. He therefore refused the club to submit its detailed medical data to La Liga and was stripped of the captain's armband on Thursday. Fortunately, the two sides have confirmed that they have resolved their differences.

Barcelona then announced that Garcia would be able to catch up with the first match of the new season. But Laporta said she is still working on the registration situation in Rashford. "We are working on this. With Mark (Terstegen)'s decision, we have the option to register Joan Garcia, and we are also dealing with the registration of other players," Laporta said. "We will have news this week, hopefully it is good news to see if we can complete the registration before the league starts. If not, we still have time."

Laporta made the above remarks after Barcelona beat Como 5-0 and won the Gambel Cup. In this game, Rashford started for Barcelona for the first time and gave Rafinha an assist. Fermin Lopez and the team's new star and Golden Globe contender Lamin Yamal scored twice. After the game, Ter Stegen spoke to the fans, confirming that the problem has been resolved and looking forward to the new season. "Obviously, we are all excited and eager to return to our home Camp Nou, and there is not much time left," he said. "I think it's important to solve the problem between the club and me, and now is the time to look forward. We have new faces and I welcome them and support them. With these new players, we will be stronger and believe they will fit well into the locker room. We have to do better in some ways and will continue to fight for all the championships as always."

Barcelona was in excellent form in pre-season preparations, with four friendly matches unbeaten and 20 goals in total. The team will challenge Majorca away on August 16 to start the La Liga title defense journey.