Barcelona director says Chelsea takeover has delayed Azpilicueta move

Jordi Cruyff

, the director of

, said that the change in ownership at

has made it harder for Barcelona to sign

Marcos Alonso

and

.

Barcelona has always been interested in the two Spaniards, and the previous Chelsea bosses were open to selling them both. In fact, Azpilicueta had a deal with them that he would be sold if he asked to leave.

All talks were put on hold while

Roman Abramovich

sold Chelsea to a group led by Todd Boehly. After that, new decisions will have to be made about Azpilicueta and Alonso, who are still eager to leave, according to 90min.

Cruyff was asked about Barcelona's moves for Azpilicueta and Alonso during the presentation of former Chelsea player Andreas Christensen, who joined on a free transfer. He said that things are still up in the air because the Blues took over.

"It's true that Chelsea's new owners have slowed things down a bit," Cruyff said. "We want to improve the team, so it's clear that we need to come up with a lot of names.

"When players hear the name "Barcelona," their eyes light up and they are willing to give up some money to fit into the new salary structure. The fact that they are willing to lose money to fight for these colors makes me proud. The new way of paying salaries needs to be fair and stable.

"We don't want to name names because they have contracts with their clubs. But it's true that we want to get stronger in positions we think are important. Christensen said he would also like to work with the two Chelsea players again. The Dane said, "I really want to play here, but I'd rather play with them again next year."

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