Racing Santander have reported Barcelona to La Liga with accusations that the Blaugrana intentionally avoided paying a sell-on fee in the departure of young midfielder Pablo Torre.
Back in 2022, Barcelona signed Torre from Racing in a deal worth €5 million ($5.9 million), agreeing to give the selling club a share of the profits of any future transfer which, at the time, were expected to be significant.
Three years and 27 appearances later, Torre was sold to Mallorca this past summer for a fee of €4.95 million, meaning Barcelona did not make a profit on the player and, as a result, did not have to pay any additional fees to Racing.
According to AS, Racing believe this was done intentionally, with Barcelona accused of structuring the deal so as to ensure they did not have to pay any sell-on clauses.
In their complaint to La Liga, Racing allege that Barcelona actually value Torre at €10 million, which was the value of the buy-back clause agreed with Mallorca during the 22-year-old’s summer transfer.
Club president Manolo Higuera is reported to have told a recent shareholders’ meeting: “They structured the transfer in a way that avoided paying Racing, and therefore they’ve left us without what we’re owed.
“We don’t want any confrontation with Barcelona, but we have to defend our interests.”
Hopes were high for Torre when he joined Barcelona in 2022. He was touted as “the next Pedri” despite only being five months younger than the Spanish superstar and was reportedly chased by Real Madrid as well.
After a brief stint with Barcelona’s reserve side, he was promoted to the senior squad and would make 13 appearances over the 2022–23 season, before the decision was made to send Torre on loan to Girona for the following campaign in search of regular minutes.
While 29 appearances did come his way, Torre only started five matches across all competitions and he returned to Barcelona with a point to prove. He was a valuable squad option for Hansi Flick last season and even scored three La Liga goals, but it soon became clear that he would struggle to climb up in the pecking order.
Needing to raise money during the summer, the decision was made to part ways with Torre, who joined La Liga strugglers Mallorca, but Barcelona protected their interests with a buy-back clause which Racing believe is not as innocent as it may appear.
Torre has managed 17 appearances for Mallorca to date, coming in and out of the starting lineup and still awaiting his first goal.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Barcelona Reported to La Liga Over ‘Bad Faith’ Transfer Deal.