Barcelona 'still owe €200m' in transfer fees – including Pjanic, Firpo & Emerson Royal

Miralem Pjanic applauds Barcelona fans in the Gamper Trophy game against Pumas in August 2022.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Barcelona owe more than €200 million in transfer fees to clubs across Europe, according to a report in the Catalan media.

The club's huge debts in recent times have been well documented, with Lionel Messi ultimately leaving in 2021 because Barça could not afford to keep him and deciding against a return as he was unsure how a move would be funded.

Last year, Barcelona activated financial 'levers' in order to sign new players, selling off a percentage of their future television revenue and also a stake in their in-house production company.

But all of that investment means the debts have not really been reduced and Catalan newspaper ARA has highlighted the challenges faced by the club in the next couple of years.

According to their report, Barça will pay €90m (around £78m) in outstanding transfer fees over the next year, with a further €120m (£104m) still to shell out after that.

Manchester City, Leeds United, Bayern Munich and Sevilla are among the clubs still owed money by Barcelona and some of that is for players who left Camp Nou long ago.

Barça reportedly have to pay Ajax €16m (£14m) for Frenkie de Jong, with smaller amounts owed for former players Neto Muraua, Jean-Clair Todibo, Emerson Royal, Junior Firpo and Miralem Pjanic.

For Bosnian midfielder Pjanic, who is now playing in the UAE after making just 30 appearances for Barcelona, the Blaugrana are said to owe four different clubs.

In terms of their more recent deals, Barça still owe around €38m (£33m) to Leeds for Raphinha, €26m (£22m) to City for Ferran Torres and €21m (£18m) to Bayern for Lewandowski, although not all of that has to be paid this year.

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Ben Hayward
Weekend editor

Ben Hayward is a European football writer and Tottenham Hotspur fan with over 15 years’ experience, he has covered games all over the world - including three World Cups, several Champions League finals, Euros, Copa America - and has spent much of that time in Spain. Ben speaks English and Spanish, currently dividing his time between Barcelona and London, covering all the big talking points of the weekend on FFT: he’s also written several list features and interviewed Guglielmo Vicario for the magazine.