Barcelona still owe more than €200m on transfer fees

Stuart Telford

• 10 Oct 2023 14:47 BST
• 3 min read

Barcelona recently announced an operating profit of €304 million, but they still owe more than €200m on players, old and new alike.

Barca were told by La Liga to reduced their debt by €200m over the summer if they wanted to defend their title this season, and it is a direction the club managed to move in.

The Blaugrana still have most of the barely fathomable €1.35 billion debt they had when they lost club legend Lionel Messi on a free transfer to Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 2021, although it has since been restructured.

READ: Barcelona's stance on Lionel Messi return revealed

They had to bolster their squad this summer with free transfers and loans - like Ilkay Gundogan, Joao Felix and Joao Cancelo - while the €3.4m acquisition of Oriol Romeu from Girona was their most expensive outlay.

The purse strings may have been tightened, and various 'financial levers' activated, but they are far from out of the woods yet.

Raphinha debt the biggest

"Barca still owes other clubs €89.4m in the short term, for players signed in recent seasons - an amount compounded by another €118m if the view is broadened to long-term debt," reports AFA's Alber Nadal.

READ: Barcelona want Ansu to succeed at Brighton so they can sell him high

The biggest individual debt is owed to Leeds, with Barca only having paid €34m of Raphinha's €58m transfer to Camp Nou in the summer of 2022.

In the next year, Barca are obligated to pay Sevilla €36m for Jules Kounde, Manchester City €13m more for Ferran Torres and Bayern Munich another €10m for Robert Lewandowski.

Money is still owed for Frenkie de Jong's 2019 transfer from Ajax (€16m), while less significant fees are outstanding for Neto, Jean-Clair Todibo, Emerson Royal, Junior Firpo, and Miralem Pjanic, none of whom still play for the club.

Barca have already committed to paying around €40m to Athletico Paranaense for Vitor Roque, but the Brazilian prodigy looks increasingly likely to arrive next summer rather than January.