Barça's other way to get into the box without making too much noise
The club relies on the profits from the sale of former Barça players to be able to operate in the market with economic normality.
BarcelonaThe signing of Nico Williams remains stuck not because Barça does not have the money to pay the 58 million of his termination clause plus the CPI, but because at this time he is still overpaid. fair play Financial. In terms of cash flow, the club has started the 2025-26 season – since July 1 – the same way it ended the last one: without being in compliance with the 1:1 rule or, in other words, still with an exceeded salary cap. To be able to register Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor.
To calculate the salary cap (or limit of the cost of the sports squad, in which Barça also has the handicap in this regard of being a multi-sport club), La Liga takes into account all expenses and income within a single season of the management association. The treasury: from television rights, image rights, sponsorship contracts and estimated ticket sales to player transfers and any capital gains that may arise.
The main intention of the club's managers is to get rid of some of the biggest names in the dressing room - Lenglet no longer belongs to Barça, Monaco assumes 40% of Ansu Fati's salary and Ter Stegen has been invited to leave—and also to profit from some major transfers (Araujo, Fermín López), as well as other smaller sales (Pablo Torre, Pau Víctor). But they are also banking on the profits being made from capital gains linked to the movement of players with a history at Barça. That is, from the percentages of future sales that the Blaugrana club maintains with respect to some of its former players who are participating in transfers between other clubs.
Todibo and Nico, financially profitable operations for Barça
The latest to have left money in the bank this way are Nico González, Todibo, Ludovit Reis, Jutglà, Ilaix Moriba, and Álex Collado. The deal for the French center-back has been, so far, the most profitable. 20% of a future sale. This represents a figure close to 8 million euros, computable in the 2024-25 financial year, for a player who has earned the club almost 20 million euros in total. He was loaned to Schalke 04, Benfica, and Nice itself, before the French club acquired him. His initial move to the Portuguese club rises to 21 million euros. Regarding Jutglà's summer move to Celta Vigo for 5 million euros (transferred by Barça in 2022 for the same amount), the price is very small, less than 1 million euros. 2 million euros out of the 7 million paid by Bruges. A similar case to Jutglà is that of Ilaix Moriba, for whom Celta paid 6 million to RB Leipzig after he played on loan at Vigo last season. He was transferred to Qatar in exchange for 2.5 million.
Other players for whom the club retains stakes in future sales and who could be involved in a deal include Óscar Mingueza, who could leave Celta Vigo, and Mika Mármol, who is of interest to Girona and for whom Las Palmas is asking for the full 10 million euro clause. In both cases, Barça would receive 50% of the capital gains from their transfers. Barça also retains stakes in future sales for Trincao, Abde, Riqui Puig, Aleñá, Estanis Pedrola, Faye, Junior Firpo, and Ilaix Moriba.
In fact, it's been a common practice in recent years. Examples include the departures of two Barça Atlètic players: defender Sergi Domínguez, who has gone to Dinamo Zagreb, and midfielder Noah Darvich, who failed to establish himself in the reserve team after paying €2.5 million in 2023 and is returning to Germany to play for Stuttgart. Barça has not released official transfer figures, which are believed to be around €1 million for both, although Domínguez's fee is slightly higher. Nor has it announced the percentage it will retain from a future sale. Other transactions that could be included in the 2024-25 season include the sales of Vitor Roque (€25.5), Faye (€10.3), Julián Araujo (€10), and Unai Hernández (€4.5).
