LaLiga block ex-Real Madrid signing in fear of Manchester City-style payments: report
Spanish football’s governing body LaLiga has stepped in to block Dani Carvajal’s proposed move to Getafe over concerns regarding his declared salary, according to a report from Spanish radio show El Larguero.
The experienced full-back, who departed Real Madrid at the end of his contract over the summer, had reached an agreement in principle to join Getafe, who are situated in the southern Madrid suburbs.
However, the league’s financial control committee has refused to validate the signing on the grounds that the agreed wage is artificially low.
Dani Carvajal’s Getafe move on hold due to finance concerns
According to El Larguero, Getafe submitted documentation proposing an annual salary of approximately €400,000 for the 34-year-old defender.
LaLiga’s economic regulators have reportedly rejected the valuation, deeming it wildly unrealistic given that Carvajal was supposedly earning €10 million per year during his time at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Under LaLiga‘s Squad Cost Limit rules, the league assigns its own baseline valuation to high-profile players to prevent clubs from under-reporting playing costs, determining that a decorated international of Carvajal’s standing cannot logically see his official remuneration fall by 96 per cent without bringing regulatory scrutiny.
The reasoning behind LaLiga’s veto is to prevent “under-the-table” payments across Spanish football. LaLiga’s financial framework requires every contract to reflect realistic market values to preserve competitive balance.
Clubs could theoretically get around salary cap restrictions by supplementing a player’s income through off-the-books commercial deals, undisclosed image-rights agreements, or third-party sponsorship arrangements that do not appear in club accounts.
The timing of this decision draws parallels with the financial charges currently surrounding Manchester City. Among the 114 alleged breaches of financial rules brought by the Premier League, a major element involves secret secondary payments.
Specifically, the Manchester club is accused of supplementing former manager Roberto Mancini’s official Etihad Stadium salary with a secondary contract for consultancy work with Abu Dhabi-based side Al Jazira, effectively offloading a substantial portion of his true earnings off the club’s official accounts.
LaLiga aims to ensure that Spanish clubs cannot utilise similar side-agreements to bypass domestic squad spending limits.
While Getafe manager Jose Bordalas had been eager to add a six-time Champions League winner to his squad, the transfer remains on hold unless Getafe can restructure the deal to satisfy LaLiga’s economic rules.
For now, Carvajal’s future remains in limbo as an example of Spanish football’s uncompromising stance on toeing the financial line.
