Liverpool FC legend John Barnes has been declared bankrupt.
A bankruptcy notice published in the London Gazette on Tuesday confirmed a HM Revenue and Customs petition against the former footballer has been granted.
The former footballer’s company John Barnes Media Limited racked up debts of over £1.5 million in combined unpaid VAT, National Insurance and PAYE.
A director’s loan of £226,000 and £461,849 owed to unsecured creditors were also included in the figure of the since liquidated business by HMRC’s auditor report.
Barnes, who still lives on Merseyside, was hit with a three-and-a-half year ban from being a company director in 2023 after failing to pay corporation tax and VAT.
The charge related to more than £190,000 between 2018 and 2020 despite his company recording of turnover of £441,798 during that period.
Last month Barnes revealed that he has paid back around £2.2M to HMRC for the past eight years after suffering heavy losses from poorly advised investments.
“I was making a lot of money, I was the first £10,000 a week footballer and benefited from that for a few years,” he told the All Things Business podcast.
“Like a lot of elite sportspeople, I got burned because I trusted people, I got caught out a couple of times and ended up losing between £1M and £1.5M over four years.
“In 2017, I began talking to HMRC about what I could do to repay what I owed.”