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CONFIRMED: Barcelona complete €47.5m Lionel Messi deal in big win for Laporta
Robin Bairner
- Updated: 28 Jun 2025 05:51 CDT
- 4 min read
News
Barcelona have completed a long-awaited deal with Lionel Messi and several other legends that dates back five years.
The Catalans have long been in economic strife, with the Covid-19 pandemic plunging the club into trouble and forcing them to defer payments for many of their biggest earners.
It has now been confirmed by Sport that the club has finally paid off the majority of these deferred debts. These totalled €121.7m, paid out over eight instalments to some of the club’s greatest players, including Lionel Messi.
Current ETV
Lionel Messi
F, AM (R)
Inter Miami
Lionel Messi
F, AM (R)
Inter Miami
ETV Range
€7.9M - €10.6M
Barca will pay off the final €16m on 30 June, bringing to a close an ugly chapter for the club.
This is a welcome development for president Joan Laporta, who is working to bring the Blaugrana back in line with La Liga’s financial regulations. Once this has been achieved, they will finally have greater freedom in the transfer market.
Key players paid off at last
Messi has been the biggest recipient of these payments. The Inter Miami star, who left Barcelona for PSG in 2021 when it became apparent that they could not afford his contract, was due a staggering €47.6m Sport reports. He will receive the final €5.96m of this figure on Monday in a move that will finally clear the Blaugrana’s debt with him.
The scale of Barcelona’s poor business around that time is highlighted by the fact that Samuel Umtiti was the next highest earner to receive a salary deferral. The World Cup-winning defender, who is now at Lille, was owed nearly €10m in total, and receives €1.24m in this final instalment.
Ousmane Dembele, Sergio Busquets, Antoine Griezmann, Jordi Alba, Philippe Coutinho, Miralem Pjanic and Sergi Roberto have all also landed payments in excess of €500,000.
Barcelona will also complete paying off Ronald Koeman, who was the coach at the time. He was owed around €6m in total.
How the agreement worked
When it became apparent in 2020 how grave the financial situation at Barcelona was, players were asked to defer close to 43% of their salaries plus all bonuses.
First-team players were paid back twice per year while coaching staff, officials and B team players were given annual payouts.
While the majority of these payments have stopped, four players – Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Frenkie de Jong, Gerard Pique and Clement Lenglet – signed new contracts shortly before the crisis struck, excluding them from the deferral.
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