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Birmingham-born Barry was poached by Barcelona in July after rejecting a new three-year contract to stay at West Brom. While there was no transfer fee involved, the nature of the move meant Barcelona were obligated to pay a standard £235,000 compensation fee.
However, local West Midlands newspaper Express & Star has revealed that West Brom are yet to see a penny of the money they are owed, despite Barry moving to Spain five months ago.
What’s more, Barcelona are said to even be disputing that they need to pay anything at all.
The Express & Star explains that West Brom first considered taking the matter to FIFA back in September. They held off, but frustration has now reached the point where the Hawthorns hierarchy feel there is no alternative but to make a formal complaint.
All of West Brom’s paperwork was in order when they offered Barry fresh terms to stay, which has since been confirmed to the club by the Premier League, EFL and the FA. Yet it is said that Barcelona are disputing the type of contract that was offered to Barry.
The Express & Star notes that West Brom feel Barcelona have done ‘everything they can’ to delay paying the money they owe for Barry. The report also adds that Barcelona still owe around £150m in total to other clubs for Philippe Coutinho, Malcom and Frenkie de Jong.
Rather laughably, both Coutinho (loan) and Malcom have already moved on from Camp Nou.
FIFA’s word on the matter should be final. But Cardiff City have shown that clubs can still dig in and refuse to comply after lodging an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) when ordered to pay €6m to Nantes for the transfer of the late Emiliano Sala.
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