Spanish club Barcelona have once again found themselves in trouble, this time over tax affairs. Barcelona is back at the center of court action according to Radio Barcelona, who stated that the National High Court dismissed the appeal made by Barcelona against a Tax Office claim for overpayments made to football agents.
As per Spain’s Tax Office, the Catalans apparently acted fraudulently by using simulated payments, as the club paid player's agents fees instead of it being paid by the players instead.
Barca President meets Spanish footballers association to resolve issue
The original investigation by the Tax Office was back around 2006 and 2008, before Barcelona’s glorious Guardiola era. The first sanction that Barcelona had received corresponds to the year 2008 and amounts to 61,363 Euros. The other extra fines corresponding to the previous years i.e., 2006 and 2007 are not yet known.
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Barcelona’s club President Josep Maria Bartomeu went to Madrid this week to meet with the leaders of the Association of Spanish footballers in an attempt to find a solution and also to find a strategy, as per Spanis newspaper AS.
Barcelona has been caught in a number of legal issues in the recent past. While on some occasions they were seen violating the laws laid down by the Spanish authorities, they were also in trouble for breaching FIFA rules in the transfer of under aged players for which they faced a transfer ban.
Messi being missed by Barcelona
The Catalans will have to quickly turn their focus to events on the field as they let go of a glorious opportunity to go on top of the table after Real Madrid drew against Eibar last weekend. However, the Catalans bottled their opportunity as a spirited Celta Vigo side took all three points.
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Coach Luis Enrique has also been criticised for rotating the players a bit too much, especially in the absence of talisman Lionel Messi.
Lionel Messi’s absence is another point of discussion as the Argentine’s absence has seen Barcelona’s performance drop by a long way. While the squad that Luis Enrique has should be good enough, it looks like Barcelona is not a team capable of winning the Champions League without Messi.
The Catalans are hoping that Messi will back in time to face Manchester City on October 19th.
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