Barcelona confirm Torres transfer despite La Liga salary issues

Barcelona have completed the signing of Manchester City forward Ferran Torres.

The Blaugrana have prioritised the signing of the Spain international since the arrival of Xavi Hernandez last month.

Xavi liked direct wingers and also liked the thought of using Torres as a false nine, something Pep Guardiola had success with at Manchester City.

Guardiola confirmed the move would be going ahead last week, with Torres keen to return to Spain, where he caught the eye with home region club Valencia.

Torres completed his medical on Monday, and the deal has now been confirmed by Barcelona.

The winger will be presented to fans at Camp Nou on Wednesday now that the deal is official.

Though, fans won’t be able to see Torres playing for Barca just yet, despite the winger signing a five-year deal with a €1billion release clause.

Barcelona are free to complete the deal from a business point of view, even with the rumoured fee being as high as €55million plus variables.

But they cannot register the 21-year-old in their La Liga squad until they reduce their salary bill.

Player sales are required to achieve that, and only when Torres is ratified by La Liga, and only when league authorities are satisfied with Barcelona’s salary mass will he be able to play.