Barcelona lectures Real Madrid on how to spend money

Romain Molina claims that signing Yan Diomandé could cost Real Madrid more than €100 million, potentially rising to around €120 million with bonuses. Molina is a French investigative journalist specialising in football. His work focuses on agents, federations, corruption and stories football authorities would often prefer to keep hidden. He has contributed to outlets including The Guardian. He is not connected to Barcelona, but his investigation has been enthusiastically turned into a financial ethics lesson by the Catalan camp.

According to Molina, the 19-year-old is surrounded by former agents, mentors, image-rights companies and several legal claims. Diomandé reportedly changed agents five times in two years, while commissions and his signing bonus could approach €20 million. PSG supposedly saw the queue for payments and quietly headed for the exit. Real Madrid remain at the table.

Barcelona circles are already asking whether Madrid are run by fools, greedy executives or incompetent people. Valuable management advice from the environment surrounding a club capable of signing players first and wondering whether it can register them later. When Real risk their own money, an investigation is apparently required. When Barça activate another financial lever, it is called an ambitious sporting project.

There is currently no proof that anyone at Real Madrid will receive a secret commission. What we have are Molina’s serious allegations and a remarkably loud sense of satisfaction in Catalonia. Barcelona may not know which players it will be able to register before the opening match, but apparently it knows exactly how much Real should pay for a winger.