Liverpool still owed significant sum for Coutinho as Barcelona debts revealed
Barcelona still owe Liverpool nearly £26m for when they signed Philippe Coutinho, it has been revealed.
The La Liga giants are struggling financially at present and that means they have not paid full transfer fees to various clubs.
Barca often structure deals in installments, but have not been able to pay some of the fees that were due. Their annual financial report has revealed that they owe £112m in unpaid transfer fees.
The largest amount of money they still owe to a club is for their purchase of Coutinho from Liverpool. The midfielder joined the club in January 2018 in a deal worth up to £142m.
Liverpool received an up-front payment of £105m for Coutinho’s transfer. However, they are still missing some of the extra funds they are entitled to.
It is not clear when Liverpool will receive the money, as Barcelona are battling their way through turbulent financial times. They have had to approach various banks to ask to delay repayments of outstanding debts so they can avoid insolvency.
Barca also owe money to 18 other clubs around the world. For example, Ajax are owed £14m for Frenkie De Jong, Bordeaux are owed just under £9m for Malcom, and Gremio are owed £7m for Arthur.
Those last two players have since left the club, showing how far some of these deals backdate.
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Intriguing Atletico payment
There was also a payment to Atletico Madrid that has not gone through yet, worth £4.44m for ‘preferential rights’. This could relate to an agreement between the two clubs after the transfer of Antoine Griezmann from Atletico to Barca.
There were claims in 2019 that Barca would pay Atletico a sum for their silence over documents related to Griezmann’s move that summer. In addition, Barca would be at an advantage to sign Atleti stars in the future.
The financial accounts do not specify what this payment is for, though.
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