Barcelona owe over $212 million in transfer fees to Leeds, Man City and Bayern: Report

Barcelona's money problems have been well-documented over the years. The club has been under intense scrutiny for its finances and now a new report has claimed that the Catalan club owes more than $212 million in transfer fees to various clubs such as Manchester City, Bayern Munich and Leeds United.

According to a report in ARA, although Barcelona have found ways to secure the transfer deals, they still owe considerable debt to the clubs. The La Liga champions are expected to shell out just under $95 million over the next 12 months but will still be left with $127 million in payout to Leeds, City, Bayern and Sevilla beyond that point.

The report added that Barcelona owe $25 million to Leeds for Raphinha, $14 million to City for Ferran Torres and $11 million to Bayern for Lewandowski. They also need to find $38 million to pay for Jules Kounde's transfer from Sevilla.

Despite a handful of transfers over the summer transfer window,Barcelona are still looking for a defensive midfielder and two fullbacks. Joao Cancelo and Jao Felix, are both on loan deals and their performances have given a second wing to the team but owing to their outrageous transfer fees, Barcelona is bound to enter the market next year.

However, plugging the gaps might be a difficult task as La Liga last month slashed Barcelona's spending cap by $429 million for the new season, down to $286 million. Only Sevilla, Villareal and Deportovo Alaves are the other La Liga clubs, operating at a lower cap than Barcelona.

The problems were compounded after reports claimed that the club was under investigation for suspected "active bribery" as part of a probe into suspected corruption spanning two decades at the refereeing committee.

In March, prosecutors filed a complaint over alleged payments of more than 7.3 million euros ($7.8 million) over 17 years to firms owned by Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, who was vice-president of the RFEF's refereeing committee from 1993 to 2018.

(With inputs from agencies)

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