FC Barcelona have been reeling from ill-advised financial decisions of the past, and this has not allowed them to operate with a massive purse. The club has hardly signed players in the transfer market, aside from one window.
In the lead-up to the 2022/23 season, president Joan Laporta pulled some financial levers to bring in players who could make the club competitive again. Among them was Bayern Munich superstar Robert Lewandowski.
Barcelona agreed a €45 million deal with Bayern Munich for the experienced Pole, and it is safe to say that he has repaid that fee in the three seasons since, and counting. Despite his advancing age, he has performed at a very high level.
Last season’s [closing accounts](https://semprebarca.com/barcelona-financial-report-exposes-e159-1-million-transfer-debt-and-e64-2-million-owed-by-other-clubs/) showed that the Catalan club still owed Bayern Munich €10.6 million, but, according to [SPORT](https://www.sport.es/es/noticias/barca/barca-liquida-millonaria-deuda-lewandowski-123368271), Bayern’s CEO, Jan-Christian Dreesen, has confirmed that the outstanding amount has been settled.
When questioned about the status of Barcelona’s payments for Lewandowski during Bayern’s annual assembly, CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen gave a definitive answer:
**“I’ll be clear because the answer is simple: it’s paid.”**
The Catalan club is still working through partial payments owed to clubs such as Leeds United and RB Leipzig for the signatures of Raphinha and Dani Olmo. However, it is good to know that the amount owed to Bayern has been settled.
Barcelona have been forced to rely on every minor loophole to sign players and register them for La Liga in recent seasons. The fact that they have managed to remain competitive and win trophies despite all this is commendable.
As for Lewandowski, he is in the final year of his contract at Barcelona, and if this is his final season, he can walk away proudly for having served the Catalan club to the best of his abilities in troubled times.