Leeds transfers: Barcelona owe £35m+ for Raphinha deal – expert
Barcelona still owe more than £35million as part of the transaction that saw Raphinha join the club from Leeds United two years ago.
That is the view of finance expert Stefan Borson, who exclusively told Football Insider the West Yorkshire giants have already received the money from a finance company as part of the deal.
Raphinha, 27, joined Barcelona in July 2022 for an initial £49million, with up to £6million in potential add-ons.
But the Catalan club’s latest accounts for 2023-24 have revealed they still owe just over €42million (£35million) to a finance company following the transfer.
They also owe Manchester City €26million (£22million) as part of the deal that took Ferran Torres, 24, to Camp Nou in January 2022.
Leeds United have already received Raphinha money
Borson admitted Leeds won’t be concerned about the Raphinha money, however, after already receiving it upfront from a finance company.
He told Football Insider: “Barcelona are financially troubled at the moment and, therefore, in terms of the way they have been doing deals for players over the last few years, they wanted to pay on a delayed basis.
“It is common, but I think the extent of it with Barcelona is slightly unusual, and it’s not just Ferran Torres.
“Torres is a player who signed in January 2022 and they still owe €26milllion (£22million), which I think is about half the fee, so they have been paying slowly.
“If you look at a player that was signed at the end of that season in Raphinha, they don’t really start paying Raphinha’s fee to Leeds until the year commencing 30 June 2025.
“They only pay €560,000 (£466,000) in the year now from 30 June 2024 to 30 June 2025, whereas next year they owe €42million (£35million).
“Leeds don’t care because Leeds have factored their right to collect that money to a finance company, which effectively means Leeds got the money upfront and it’s the finance companies’ receivable from Barcelona to worry about.
“Leeds have got their money, but it just shows that Barcelona wanted these players but couldn’t pay for them, so they had to push out the obligation to move the payment as far as possible.”
In other news, Ipswich could terminate Kalvin Phillips deal – “his head is at Leeds”.
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