Are Barcelona still in financial trouble? €22m Anthony Gordon payment postponed

10 Sept 2026 07:41 BST | 4 min read

Anthony Gordon, Barcelona, 2026/27 — © IMAGO

Robin Bairner | Chief Editor

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Barcelona have not paid the first instalment on Anthony Gordon’s transfer from Newcastle, the club has officially declared. But what does this mean about the Catalans’ finances?

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Gordon was Barcelona’s biggest signing of the summer as he arrived in a deal worth a total of €80m from Newcastle.

While the England winger was expected to move, a deal with the Blaugrana came apparently out of the blue, with Arsenal and Bayern Munich previously rated as likelier destinations. Nevertheless, the 25-year-old seemed well prepared for the transfer as he spoke in Spanish during his unveiling.

Current ETV

Anthony Gordon

F (CL), M (L)

Barcelona

Anthony Gordon

F (CL), M (L)

Barcelona

ETV Range

€48.2M - €80.4M

And Gordon has impressed since moving to Camp Nou, delivering four assists in four La Liga matches before coming off the bench for a late cameo in the 5-1 Champions League win over Feyenoord on Wednesday.

But the Blaugrana’s official accounts detail that the club has not started repaying his transfer fee.

Barcelona stall on Gordon payment

Barcelona’s financial report for the 2025/26 season shows that a payment of €22.3m in the Gordon deal was initially programmed for 31 July, but it announces that there was a postponement of the payment.

Instead, Barca are expected to pay Newcastle €44.6m at a later date. This will be their first payment in the transfer deal. The Catalans still owe Newcastle the full upfront fee, which is €70m.

There are also €10m in bonus payments, which Culemania reports are subject to two conditions being met.

The first is that Gordon plays 60% of minutes across each season, while the second depends on which titles Barca win.

What does this say about Barcelona’s finances?

Barcelona’s financial position is stronger than it once was. However, the Blaugrana are by no means entirely secure.

Culemania points out that although they have recorded a projected profit of €1m for 2026/27, this “leaves no room for further unforeseen expenditures”.

This will also include no delays on the opening of the third tier of Camp Nou, which must be placed in some doubt given the press box was flooded during the Champions League fixture against Feyenoord, which took place amid a torrential downpour.

Equally, Barcelona also took out a €210m loan at the start of the transfer window that was leveraged against future television rights and was designed to support their summer spending ambitions.

Among the players they have hoped to sign was Atletico Madrid’s Julian Alvarez, but this deal was shut down by the capital side amid a furious row between the clubs that leaves the Argentine’s future in limbo.

Certainly, funding a deal worth €100m or more to find a replacement for Robert Lewandowski promises to be a difficult challenge over the next 12 months, but given the wizardry of president Joan Laporta in finding short-term revenue streams, it should not be dismissed as impossible.

The Gordon payment delay does, however, expose that all is not necessarily well at Barcelona, and they are still having to find creative solutions to maximise their financial strength.