Malaga have reached an initial agreement with the Hacienda over unpaid taxes and are moving forward on other money owed.
The club are in financial uncertainty this summer after owner Abdullah Al-Thani’s sudden decision to sell, with total debts reportedly at €90m, including unpaid wages and €18m owed to the Hacienda (tax office) for unpaid player transfer fees.
Reports today suggest that the Costa del Sol outfit have come to an initial agreement that €7.5m of the €15m they received for Santi Cazorla’s sale to Arsenal will be handed over to the Hacienda, predominantly to appease Villarreal and Osasuna. The other €7.5m can be kept by the club for use elsewhere.
Villarreal and Osasuna still have money owed from Malaga on unpaid VAT from respective summer 2011 transfers of Cazorla and Nacho Monreal to La Rosaleda. They reported Al-Thani’s club to the Spanish League (LFP) this summer, resulting in a ban on Malaga signing players that is currently still in effect.
Malaga must now wait for these two clubs to drop their complaint to the LFP about the unpaid VAT if they are to be able to sign any players before the transfer window closes.
Players have also begun to receive wages owed to them, as confirmed by midfielder Ignacio Camacho today. It understood that these were June’s due payments, whilst July’s wages are apparently still outstanding.
The club’s priority this summer reportedly remains settling other outstanding debts and drastically reducing the wage bill.
