Racing Santander have filed a complaint with La Liga, accusing Barcelona of acting in “bad faith” in the transfer of young midfielder Pablo Torre.
The Spanish club alleges that the Blaugrana intentionally structured the deal to avoid paying a sell-on fee.
Barcelona originally signed Torre from Racing in 2022 for €5 million ($5.9 million), agreeing to give Racing a percentage of any future transfer profit.
Three years and 27 appearances later, Barcelona sold Torre to Mallorca this past summer for €4.95 million—effectively making no profit and therefore avoiding any obligation to pay Racing.
According to AS, Racing believes Barcelona deliberately valued Torre below his true worth to circumvent the sell-on clause.
The club claims that Barcelona actually valued Torre at €10 million—the amount of the buy-back clause agreed with Mallorca during the transfer.
Barcelona Under Investigation Over Pablo Torre Summer Sale
Racing president Manolo Higuera reportedly stated at a recent shareholders’ meeting:
“They structured the transfer in a way that avoided paying Racing, leaving us without what we’re owed. We don’t want a confrontation with Barcelona, but we have to defend our interests.”
Torre joined Barcelona in 2022 amid high expectations and was once tipped as “the next Pedri,” despite being only five months younger than the Spanish star.
After a short spell with Barcelona B, he was promoted to the senior squad, making 13 appearances in the 2022–23 season before being loaned to Girona for regular playing time.
While he featured in 29 games for Girona, Torre only started five, returning to Barcelona to serve as a valuable squad option under Hansi Flick and scoring three La Liga goals. Despite this, he struggled to cement a starting position.
Barcelona ultimately sold Torre to struggling Mallorca to raise funds, securing a buy-back clause that Racing now claims was designed to avoid the sell-on obligation.
Torre has made 17 appearances for Mallorca so far, rotating in and out of the starting lineup and still searching for his first goal.
