Only just save the Spanish close to bankruptcy (6)
I believe the answer is:
barely
'only just' is the definition.
'save the spanish close to bankruptcy' is the wordplay.
'save' becomes 'bar' (I've seen this before).
'the spanish' becomes 'el'.
'close to' says to take the final letters (the close/ending of).
The final letter of 'bankruptcy' is 'y'.
'bar'+'el'+'y'='BARELY'
(Other definitions for barely that I've seen before include "just a short while before" , "how streakers like to act?" , "as Godiva rode?" , "By a small margin" , "Just about, nothing to spare" .)