Barcelona paid Leeds United a fee of £50 million + £5 million in add-ons to sign Raphinha back in 2022.
And as per a new report from Spanish outlet Ara.cat, the staggering amount Barcelona still owe Leeds has come to light 15 months on from when a deal was completed.
It is said Barca owe just shy of £21 million to Leeds in the short term, and a further £32.8 million in the long-term, which equates to a tally of just under £54 million (€62 million).
If this latest report is correct, it effectively means Barca are yet to pay Leeds anything for the Brazilian, which hardly paints the Whites’ previous negotiating team in a good light.
Despite interest from Chelsea and Arsenal, it felt like Barcelona or nothing for Raphinha last summer and so in the end, Leeds were compelled to agree some sort of deal with the Catalan side.
Barca still owe Leeds £54 million for Raphinha
Barcelona have been in financial turmoil for a number of years now and at present, are working to fix mistakes made the previous president Josep Maria Bartomeu.
That did not stop them from agreeing several big transfers in 2022, though, with Jules Kounde and Robert Lewandowski joining Raphinha in moving to the Camp Nou for fees in excess of £50 million.
But clearly Leeds are set to any monetary benefit from selling their star Brazilian last year and as their financial issues continue, it remains to be seen when they will.
As per Ara.cat, ‘Barça still owes him so much money that the English entity factored its right to collect through a financial institution. This basically means that it is a bank that advances the amount in exchange for interest.’
It will certainly be interesting to see how this develops over the next year or so if Barca’s financial situation does not improve.
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