BARCELONA reportedly paid about £126million of their own money to inflate the value of the club’s TV rights.
It happened as part of the deal to sell a 25 per cent stake of future TV rights to Sixth Street, according to Spanish radio station COPE.
And it means the LaLiga giants must now pay about £32m in tax on that payment, according to the report.
COPE claims the Catalans set up a holding company called Logksley Investments SL to facilitate the deal.
The injection of extra cash – a perfectly legal manoeuvre – is said to have boosted the sale price from about £436m to £562m.
Barcelona were hoping the inflated amount would count as new income.
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However, COPE says LaLiga has only accepted the lower amount as being the value of the sale.
The radio station says the move was made to satisfy LaLiga’s Financial Fair Play rules.
Barca were required to stay within the FFP rules with their summer signings of Raphinha, Robert Lewandowski and Jules Kounde.
The trio of international stars arrived at the Nou Camp for a reported combined amount of around £130m.
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The report also says Barca will need to sell more of their current stars to be able to make further signings within FFP rules.
And it says player sales will also be needed to register their three big new signings with LaLiga.
Barca’s finances have been under scrutiny since it was revealed last year they were close to £1billion in debt.
Xavi’s side warmed up for the new season by thrashing Mexican giants Pumas 6-0 to win the Joan Gamper Trophy on Sunday night.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
