La Masia, the gold mine: 120 million euros close to Barcelona's coffers

Barcelona's academy played a pivotal role in the financial return, with more than half of the revenue linked to players who came through the club, directly or indirectly.

Ansu Fati's departure brought in around 11 million euros, and the Tomi Marques deal a similar figure. The transfer of Inaki Pena added another three million euros.

Smaller sums followed. Dani Rodriguez left for around 600,000 euros, while Andres Cuenca's transfer was worth nearly 700,000 euros.

More deals are still going through. Hector Fort joins Real Sociedad for around 8.5 million euros, Alvaro Cortes brings in more than three million, and Toni Fernandez's move to Venezia is worth around four million euros.

Complete the sale of Casado at Barcelona's asking price of nearly 20 million euros, and the total income from direct sales alone will break through the 110 million euro barrier.

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Complete the pending deals at their anticipated values, and this summer becomes the most profitable window for sales since Joan Laporta returned to the Barcelona presidency in 2021.

Back in 2023, the club banked 81.5 million euros from player sales. That figure counted only the money that actually reached Barcelona. Paris Saint-Germain paid 50.4 million euros to sign Ousmane Dembélé, yet Barcelona pocketed just 35.4 million, with 15 million going to the player and his representatives.

That summer's total also drew on the transfers of Antoine Griezmann, Francisco Trincão, Franck Kessié, Nico González and Abdessamad Ezzalzouli. This time, the calculation leaves out Jofre Torrents's move to Ajax. The deal could still earn Barcelona between five and six million euros, but a large chunk is tied to incentives and variables that have yet to be met.

Other bonuses buried in various deals follow the same logic. You don't count them financially until they actually fall due.

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Barcelona's income wasn't limited to selling players from their current squad. The club banked around 4.8 million euros from Jan Virgili's move from Real Mallorca to Club Brugge, having retained a percentage of any future sale.

Solidarity mechanisms and youth training rights chipped in another four million euros or so, triggered by transfers involving former academy players. Among them were Nico Gonzalez, Marc Cucurella, Alejandro Grimaldo and Sergi Altimira. That figure could climb a touch if a move for Marc Guiu or Mateu Morey goes through.

All told, Barcelona's revenues are closing in on 120 million euros. There's a distinction to draw, though: around 110 million came from direct sales this summer, while roughly nine million flowed from sale percentages and solidarity mechanisms tied to transfers between other clubs.

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Barcelona also made important gains beyond the sales column by trimming their wage bill. The end of Robert Lewandowski's contract and the loans of Marc-André ter Stegen and Ronald Araújo brought no direct funds into the coffers. They did, however, free up significant financial space to help the club register new players.

Barcelona's board are betting on a formula that guarantees future benefits too, writing percentages of the next sale, buy-back options and target-linked bonuses into a number of deals.

Jan Vertonghen's transfer offers the most notable example. The club cashed in on a clause it had retained in an earlier deal when Club Brugge decided to pay the player's release clause.

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