That's one way to rake the money back! Carles Puyol models one-off El Clasico shirt on sale for £80, just a day after it was revealed cash-strapped Barcelona are £112MILLION in debt to 19 clubs over unpaid transfer fees

  • Barcelona have released a one-off shirt to be worn in El Clasico in April
  • The unique replica shirt is on sale on the club website for an eye-watering £80
  • It comes after Barcelona released their annual financial reports on Monday
  • The Catalan giants are £112million in debt to 19 different clubs over transfer fees 

Barcelona have released a one-off shirt to be worn in El Clasico, which is on sale on their website for an eye-watering £80.

The unique shirt, which merges the club's traditional home colours with the Catalan flag - the Senyera - is modelled by club legend Carles Puyol, and has been created for use in just a single match.

ADVERTISEMENT

It will be worn for Barca's trip to Real Madrid and the Bernabeu in April.

Carles Puyol models a new Barcelona shirt
The one-off shirt is on sale on Barcelona's website
The shirt will be worn in the next Clasico derby against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu in April

There is also a match shirt version on sale, that would see the most loyal and dedicated of Barca fans have to part with close to £130.

Show Player

The enormous sums for the shirt come just a day after it was revealed the cash-strapped Catalan giants still owe 19 clubs a whopping £112million in transfer fees after they released their annual financial report on Monday.

Of that debt, the largest sum they owe is £25m (€29m) to Liverpool as they still have a large chunk to pay of the initial £142m deal they agreed for Philippe Coutinho three years ago.

The deal was the biggest in the club's history but the move for the Brazilian hasn't worked out and now the Spanish club are paying for it in more ways than one.

Having handed over £105m up front to Liverpool for the playmaker, Barca agreed to pay the rest in instalments over the following years. 

While Liverpool have received the majority of this, the financial report released by the club shows the Reds are still waiting for a large chunk of this.

Barcelona still owe Liverpool £25m for the transfer of Philippe Coutinho in January 2018

With the Coutinho debt, Barcelona still owe Bordeux £8.8m for winger Malcom, Gremio an additional £7m for Arthur Melo (now at Juventus) and £14m to Ajax for Frenkie de Jong.

Barcelona's financial problems, due to the pandemic, have been no secret, which has seen the club slide towards a period of austerity in recent months.

ADVERTISEMENT

As of last week, it was reported that the Spanish giants have asked a host of major banks to delay debt repayments so that the club can avoid insolvency, in an alarming development for supporters. 

According to El Confidencial via Football Espana, the Catalonians requested from Goldman Sachs, Allianz, Barings, Amundi and Prudential a dispensation for failing to financially comply, which points to a non-payment of approximately £178m.

Barca still owe Brazilian club Gremio an additional £7million for midfielder Arthur Melo (right)

The LaLiga side reportedly have a negative working capital of £535m, with a further £89m owed to other lenders.

Barcelona announced during the 2019-20 season that it expected to be the first club to break the £1bn barrier for income in a single year in football, however that figure was blown off course by the coronavirus pandemic.

And last October, the club announced that the club's debts had doubled in a worrying set of new financial results for the 2019-20 season. 

As a result, the club have made cuts to its first-team squad in a bid to reduce the wage bill, with a reported £71m slashed from the books after the sales of Nelson Semedo, Arthur, Ivan Rakitic and Marc Cucurella.