FC Barcelona crisis: Club allegedly owes Lionel Messi €63 million

FC Barcelona's financial troubles have been all over the news for the past several months. Recent reports have revealed details that suggest that the problem is even bigger than it initially seemed to be. Barcelona's debts have reportedly resulted in the non-payment of salaries to their players, most significantly to their captain, Lionel Messi.

The first team squad is reportedly still owed a large chunk of their salaries for the past year. Marca reports that the club is sitting on a 1.173 billion euro debt, which includes a short-term 730 million euro debt that likely involves late wages.

Barcelona has reportedly paid only 8.5 million out of the 72 million euros that they should have paid Messi by the end of January. That's a whopping 63.5 million euros in salary and image rights that the club has failed to cough up.

Barcelona started negotiations with everyone in their payroll late last year, and just a few weeks ago, an agreement was reached to defer part of this season's wages in a payment scheme that lasts several years.

That's about 172 million euros in deferred payments. Only four players were not affected by this scheme, namely Gerard Pique, Clement Lenglet, Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Frenkie de Jong, who have just penned new deals.

Reports have also emerged that B team players also faced a delay in their wages, which was eventually settled. Amid all of these financial struggles, Messi's massive contract is in the spotlight. A "leak" revealed that the Argentine is set to earn a total of 555,237,619 euros throughout the course of his current contract which was signed in 2017 and will expire in June.

The information has once again revived questions about Barcelona's massive spending and whether or not they are operating within the rules of Financial Fair Play (FFP). With details of Barcelona's financial struggles and the massive salaries of their players, other clubs are questioning how they could have possibly been operating within FFP rules. It remains to be seen if a formal investigation will be launched.