‘Barcelona took four years to pay me!' - Ex-coach reveals long wait for his salary and confirms ongoing legal battle against La Liga club

Quique Setien’s turbulent relationship with Barcelona officially ended on the pitch in August 2020, but the financial severance has only recently been concluded. Speaking to the Spanish radio programme El Larguero on the Cadena SER network, the Cantabrian coach confirmed that the chapter regarding his salary is finally closed, albeit after a delay that highlights the severe liquidity issues that have plagued the club in recent times.

Upon his sacking, Setien reportedly initiated legal proceedings to recoup the money owed to him, joining a list of creditors that painted a grim picture of the club’s economic health. However, the manager insists that he holds no further grievances regarding the specific debt.

"The Barca has taken three or four years to pay me," Setien confessed. "Everything is solved. They fulfilled all payments that they owed me and they owe me nothing."

Setien’s time in the Camp Nou dugout was brief, frantic, and ultimately doomed by circumstances largely beyond his control. He was appointed in January 2020, tasked with replacing Ernesto Valverde mid-season. His mandate was to restore the club's "DNA" and attractive style of play, but he walked into a dressing room that was visibly decaying and a club structure that was crumbling from within.

His tenure lasted just seven months, ending abruptly in August 2020. During that period, he oversaw 25 matches, securing 16 wins, four draws and five defeats. While he guided the team to a second-place finish in La Liga, surrendering the title to Real Madrid post-lockdown, his reign is almost exclusively remembered for its catastrophic conclusion: the historic 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals in Lisbon.

He inherited a squad that was not only ageing but also decimated by Barcelona’s long struggles with injury. Luis Suarez underwent knee surgery just days before Setien’s appointment, ruling him out for months, while Ousmane Dembele suffered a complete hamstring tear shortly after, leaving the new manager with a makeshift attack that forced the emergency signing of Martin Braithwaite. These fitness issues, combined with the systemic decline of the team’s physical levels, left Setien exposed when facing the intense pressing machine of Bayern Munich.

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While the Barcelona debt has been settled, Setien used the interview to reveal a startling new financial dispute, this time involving Villarreal. The coach managed the Yellow Submarine from October 2022 until his dismissal in September 2023, but he claims the club has yet to pay him what he is contractually owed.

"Now I am waiting for Villarreal, that I haven't collected anything yet and it has been almost three years," Setien claimed. "The topic is in the court. We have been waiting for a year and a half for a sentence to collect what they owe me."

Setien expressed genuine surprise that established La Liga institutions would conduct business in such a manner.

"You don't expect that these things happen in teams as big as these," he noted.

Despite the unpaid wages, the crushing Champions League exit, and the eventual legal threats, Setien maintains that he does not regret the decision to move to Catalonia. The veteran coach revealed that he turned down a lucrative offer from Egypt to take the Barcelona job, a decision driven by footballing romanticism rather than finance.

"I do not regret having gone to Barca instead of Egypt," he explained.

However, looking back from his current vantage point, having recently spent time with Chinese Super League side Beijing Guoan, he admits to a sense of longing for a different timing. He alluded to the current environment at Barcelona, which stands in stark contrast to the toxic atmosphere of 2020.

"It is true that I would have liked it to have been another way, in a moment like the one Barca is in now, for example. With young people, excited kids, with enthusiasm and with a good atmosphere. It was totally different, sadly," he said.

In a twist of irony, the "good atmosphere" Setien envies is currently being overseen by Hansi Flick - the very man who managed Bayern to that infamous 8-2 drubbing. Rather than harbouring resentment, Setien offered high praise for the German’s impact on the current squad.

"The footballers are the protagonists. It seems to me that the influence of Flick is very high," Setien observed.

He went on to analyse the tactical bravery Flick has instilled in the current crop of La Masia graduates, acknowledging the high-risk nature of their defensive line.

"He is a very demanding man and the squad has accepted the proposal that he has brought. Although it seems like a suicidal idea sometimes, it gives much more to Barca than it takes away. He is making a young team that will grow with time. It seems to me a very solvent team and I like it."