Barcelona still owe € 69m for Philippe Coutinho’s move from Liverpool

Barcelona still owe Liverpool nearly € 70million for Philippe Coutinho, who made the move to Camp Nou from Anfield three years ago and has since been on loan at and returned to Bayern Munich.

Liverpool owe € 29million of that amount in the short term and have billed Barca accordingly, but it looks like the Reds aren’t the only ones waiting for money from the Catalan giants. Surprisingly, there are 19 clubs in total with Juventus owed sums for two players and a monumental € 323million transfer debt.

The figures are released in Barcelona’s latest accounts and they owe € 126m on outstanding short-term transfers and an additional € 197m in future commitments beyond the reporting period. Even though deals are often negotiated to include installments and installment payments, this is an astronomical level of transfer debt to accumulate.

Coutinho is the largest short-term amount owed at just over € 29million. The £ 142million fee that Liverpool agreed to sell in December 2018 was heavily inflated by add-ons, with just £ 105million of that figure making it a guaranteed price.

But it was recently reported that all add-ons were finally triggered after the Brazilian player’s 90th game for Barca. However, that does not mean that Liverpool automatically received the full amount. Beyond the 29 million euros, 40 million euros remain due in the future.

What is more surprising from Barcelona’s point of view is that there are still significant debts – both short and long term – on the players they have already sold.

Malcom was not deemed good enough after just 24 appearances and joined Zenit St Petersburg for around € 40million for which he was bought. Yet Barca still owe Bordeaux nearly € 10million in the short term and an additional € 10million in the long term.

Likewise, Barca sold Arthur to Juventus last summer, but still owe Gremio nearly € 8million from time to time an additional € 13.5million. The Brazilian was sold in a partial trade with Miralem Pjanic to help balance the books for last season, with Juventus owing just under € 5million for the Bosnia international immediately and nearly € 60million. euros in total.

Barca triggered a buyout clause for Denis Suarez in 2016 to re-sign him from Villarreal. This deal was not thought to be worth more than 3.5 million euros, but it appears that an additional € 241,000 and € 482,000 are still due almost five years later. Suarez was sold to Celta Vigo for € 16million about 18 months ago.

The Catalans have yet to pay most of the money for Frenkie de Jong, whose € 75million transfer was made in the summer of 2019. In the short term, € 16million is owed to Ajax, and 48 million euros in the long term. It seems Barca have barely made a dent in the initial price.

Barcelona’s finances have received a lot of coverage in recent weeks. Presidential candidate Victor Font admitted late last year that the situation was “critical”, with the club’s overall debt now estimated to be north of € 800 million.

It was recently reported in Spain that Barca have called on banks and lenders to delay payment dates on “impending debts” to prevent them from defaulting and risking bankruptcy.

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