Gavi Set To Leave FC Barcelona For Free In 2024 Amid New Contract Registration Failure

FC Barcelona midfielder Gavi could be set to leave the club for free in 2024 if it fails to register his new contract.

The 18-year-old again put in a solid, courageous performance against Real Sociedad at Camp Nou on Wednesday evening.

Hitting the bar in the second half, the Spain international helped guarantee his team passage to the Copa del Rey semi-finals with a hard-earned 1-0 win over their Basque visitors.

Hours before kick off, Gavi made headlines when the news broke that La Liga had refused to allow Barca to register the new contract due to a failure to successfully navigate Financial Fair Play and meet at least two points of its regulations.

Set to expire in 2026, the fresh deal penned in September last year came with a €1bn ($1.09bn) release clause which shows how highly valued the Andalusian is to the club.

As highlighted by SPORT, the development puts Gavi’s future at risk. If the new contract cannot be registered, he would be free to walk in 2024 and not 2026 as originally thought. The same logic applies to central defender Ronald Araujo, who likewise penned a new deal in 2022.

Put simply, losing either man or both would spell disaster for Barcelona’s long-term sporting project under Xavi Hernandez.

They are essential starters in his line up, and are central to plans that aim to bring back an era of glory to the club that has suffered financially and seen itself fall behind bitter rivals Real Madrid and other adversaries on the continent in recent times.

Barca had already shown the correct attitude by shelving plans to possibly bring in new signings in the winter transfer market in order to try and register Gavi and Araujo.

Though it was originally thought that the club would have around €3.5mn ($3.8mn) to spend before February 1 thanks to Memphis Depay’s departure to Atletico Madrid, Barca decided to pull off a move that would have made the youngsters happy and would have seen Gavi handed Xavi’s iconic old number ‘6’ shirt.

Moving forward, this problem needs to be ironed out ASAP with the club offloading other less important players in the summer or reducing salaries to make it happen.

Understandably, Gavi would have no shortage of potential suitors, with Bayern Munich and Liverpool previously said to be interested in acquiring him.