The mystery of Mbappé's thin millionaire

BarcelonaReal Madrid, who play the second leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie against Atlético Madrid this Wednesday with a minimal advantage from the first leg (9 p.m.), have presented their profit and loss accounts for the period from July 1 to December 31 of last year. A month before this period, the club formalized the signing of Kylian Mbappé. According to the report, the high-profile acquisition of the Frenchman as a free agent meant Madrid spent significant bonuses and salaries to secure the former Paris Saint-Germain striker.

Several experts report that Madrid would have paid 117.5 million euros for Mbappé's signing bonus, guided by the economic item that appears in the payments section for investments in intangible fixed assets for sportsOne of the voices is Héctor Mohedano, a financier specializing in football, who explains to ARA that "this fund reflects only cash outflows for investments in the acquisition of new players, both in the form of bonuses and purchases." Thus, the fixed salary and other variables "would be included in other financial items."

Although the report covers the financial year starting in July of last year, and the Frenchman's bonus was paid a month earlier, in June, Mbappé's bonus would still be expected. As Mohedano states, the item shows a total figure that may include figures from previous financial years. "Madrid usually pays and collects over several years, approximately three," he points out. He also adds that "the payments for Mbappé's bonus were capitalized in the previous year's income statement."

Inconsistencies in the breakdown

On the other hand, there is the game collections from divestments, which refers to payments received from player sales. The €54.4 million shown in the table theoretically includes the transfers of Rafa Marín to Napoli (€12 million), Juanmi Latasa to Valladolid (€2.5 million), and Joselu to Al-Gharafa (€1.5 million). But the three signings add up to €16 million and fall short of the amount set in the table.

What's the explanation? Kike Marín, journalist atThe Confidential who follows Real Madrid news, explains that under the heading "payments for investments in intangible sporting assets," amortizations of other payments can be expected. "I don't think Madrid will express the bonus so blatantly. Besides, they can amortize it over five years," he tells this newspaper. Along these lines, Iván Cabeza, a professor of economics and business at the UB specializing in the economics of football clubs, is skeptical that the numbers in this heading are correctly calculated. "[Mbappé] has earned around 78 million euros and has 40 million left to collect," he explains to ARA.

The French striker signed a five-year contract and an estimated salary of 15 million euros net per year, considerably lower than what he received in Paris, 72 million gross per season. However, he is currently the second highest-paid player in La Liga, behind only Barça striker Robert Lewandowski, who earns 32 million euros gross per year. For its part, Madrid declined to provide details about the amount that Mbappé's signing bonus would include.