Barcelona‘s captains will not take another pay cut in the summer transfer window.
The club have met recently with the representatives of Sergio Busquets, Gerard Pique and Jordi Alba in order to find a formula through which these salary reductions could be translated into more space in the wage bill.
LaLiga have made clear to Barcelona that Pique receiving another pay cut won’t help them make space in their salary cap and register new players.
The two parties have met in recent days in an attempt to find a mutually satisfactory solution, but it has not been possible. Pique has already taken several salary reductions, either by deferring payments or directly reducing his wages.
Giving up many millions
This is what is happening this season. In the last two years, Pique has deferred just over 30 million euros. He did so with the previous board when they asked him for help and he did it again last summer when he reached an agreement with current sporting director, Mateu Alemany.
Last summer, not only did he again defer a very important part of his salary, with the risk that this entails, but he also accepted a salary cut of just over 15m euros from his guaranteed salary for this and the next season.
He also renounced variables from objectives that could be easily achieved in his bid to allow the club generate more income.
LaLiga regulations do not allow the money that a player has renounced to be included in the salary cap if he had done it before. This could only happen if the figure is larger than what he had previously renounced.
Meet the Financial Fair Play rules
Even if Pique waived part of his salary, he would not help Barcelona register new signings.
The club would only do so if Pique was to forgive an amount significantly higher than the aforementioned figure, something that is not contemplated by either of the two parties.
This situation does not only affect Pique, but also Busquets and Jordi Alba who did the same in the past.
Sergio Busquets y Jordi Alba. / EFE
In Busquets‘ case, his contract expires on June 30 and the situation is even more complicated. The reduction of the captains’ salaries served at the time for Barcelona to be able to sign Memphis Depay and Eric Garcia a year ago.
Other players
If Barcelona want to have room to sign up new signings, they will have to force the departure of players such as Memphis, Martin Braithwaite or Sergino Dest, or salary reduction of other such as Marc-Andre Ter Stegen or Miralem Pjanic.
Source: Marca
