Barcelona still owe Liverpool €13m over the ‘next few seasons’ for the transfer of Philippe Coutinho, three years after his departure from Anfield.
That’s according to website 2Playbook.com, who have discovered the outstanding payments owed to Liverpool as part of a deep dive into Barcelona’s latest accounts.
The website have access to Barca’s accounts for this season and detail their efforts to cut costs throughout this summer.
According to their information, the Spanish giants reduced their debt by 28% this year alone by letting several big players leave in the summer transfer window.
They managed to cut off a staggering €81m of debt this year alone, while their transfer spending dropped from €155m to €25m.
That meant the club ‘significantly reduced its outstanding debt’ from recent years but still has €115m in debt for ‘long-term purchases’, and Coutinho is one of them.
He joined from Liverpool in a £135m deal in 2018, but the Reds are still to receive that full sum, with €13m still set to come their way ‘in the next few seasons’.
They’ve been adding the cash from that deal for a while, with €29m also winging it’s way to Liverpool in last season’s accounts.
It’s a dire situation for Barcelona, who are determined to lower their debt as much as possible but, as with Coutinho, still have to pay for the likes of Miralem Pjanic, Frenkie de Jong and Arthur Melo.
Not that Liverpool will be concerned, of course, they’re still earning for a player who hasn’t been there’s for three years and left in a deal that looks more like the negotiation of the century every day.
