Bartomeu admits that deals for Lautaro and Neymar are on hold for now

The coronavirus crisis has changed how everything works in the world and that includes football. The transfer market is expected to be very different this summer with much lower fees being agreed when compared with previous seasons.

Barça have been impacted by the financial adjustments and this has caused them to put major transfers 'on hold' and try to search for alternative solutions with less money to go around. Josep Maria Bartomeu, in an exclusive interview for SPORT, explained the current situation at Barça when it comes to transfer targets. 

Will Barça signed Lautaro Martinez?

Barça have spoken to Inter about Lautaro over the last few weeks but the conversations have been put on hold by mutual consent. The current situation doesn't allow for major transfer fees.

Is signing Neymar still possible?

In the current situation, no. PSG don't want to sell either, which makes sense as he's one of the best players in the world. Last summer we tried really hard (to sign him) but this summer we won't even try. The club lost €200m between March and June. In the 2020/21 season, we expected to earn €1100m but that's likely to be 30% less now. If the situation doesn't improve, they won't be people in the stands, at the museum or the shops and we'll keep losing money. This will cause us to revise our spending plans and which ones can wait. We have to adapt.

Does this mean the multi-million euro transfers will stop for now? 

I believe so. Or at least there will be more swap deals. All the big European clubs have been impacted by this and we are all working to adapt. This won't be for just one year, it could be for up to 3-4 years.

What will Pjanic bring to the side?

We've been following him for a while. But every time we moved for him it wasn't possible because his club didn't want to stay. He was always excited about the chance of coming to Barça. This isn't a surprise signing. He's going to be an important player for us.