A truce has been called between the Barcelona dressing room and the club’s board to negotiate salary reductions, according to reports.
Diario AS cite reports from Cadena Ser’s Catalunya station which claims that an agreement has been reached that will see the first-team squad speak to the board in a separate negotiation which will not involve wage cuts across the non-playing staff at the club.
Barça have recently renewed the contracts of Marc-Andre Ter Stegen, Clement Lenglet, Frenkie De Jong and Gerard Piqué which will temporarily reduce their salaries before increasing them in the long-term to compensate.
New signings Sergino Dest, Francisco Trincao and Miralem Pjanic were all signed under those conditions and the coming days will see negotiations continue with Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets, Sergi Roberto, Philippe Coutinho and Ousmane Dembélé, among the others.
The most unique case is that of Lionel Messi – the world’s best paid football – who ends his contract in June 2021.
Last Friday, Catalan radio station RAC1 reported how the squad had sent a burofax to the club to outline their formal opposition to such plans, which could prove decisive in any future legal discussions that could develop between the separate parties.
However, a report from Catalan radio station RAC1’s was highlighted in Diario Sport by saying that Frenkie de Jong, Marc-Andre Ter Stegen and Clement Lenglet were the three players in opposition to the move.
Barcelona then confirmed four contract renewals on Tuesday in which those three players penned new deals, along with defender Gerard Pique.
The club accounts show that Barcelona’s debt had more than doubled during the 2019-20 campaign amid extremely worrying financial results.
The club’s financial figures, as outlined by Marca, show that the debt at the club has risen from €217m in June 2019 to €488m in June 2020.
Whilst the club’s first-team squad has been slimmed down this year, with a reported €80m off the wage bill, there is still a worrying financial outlook for the club.
