Barcelona have reportedly asked senior members of the squad to take pay cuts in a bid to persuade the rest of the team to follow suit.
Barcelona’s sporting director, Mateu Alemany, is said to have met with the agents of Sergi Roberto, Sergio Busquets, Gerard Pique and Jordi Alba to discuss the proposal.
The club hopes co-operation will help reduce Barcelona’s extortionate wage bill as they look to adhere to the financial fair play rules, along with LaLiga’s strict salary cap, for the 2021-22 campaign.
As it stands, Barcelona need to wipe £156million (€187m) from their existing wage bill. Their limit was £296m (€347m) last year and now it’s plummeted to £136m (€160m).
Therefore, according to Sport, Barcelona have sent a personalised letter to each squad member – outlining the club’s current financial situation.
They hope the letters will highlight the importance of the pay cuts and encourage senior figures within the squad to accept their proposal.
Previous discussions surrounding pay cuts at Barcelona have not always gone well.
The club initially asked players to agree to a 40 per cent wage cut, but this was rejected by the squad.
As a result, they then offered to extend each player’s contract for the same amount of money. Effectively allowing them to earn the same amount but over a great period of time.
Some players, including Pique, De Jong, Lenglet and Ter Stegen, agreed to such terms. Other players refused.
Barcelona are eager for the players to accept a pay cut this time round as they look to finalise Lionel Messi’s new contract and register their four new signings: Sergio Aguero, Memphis Depay, Eric Garcia and Emerson Royal.
The club hope confirmation of Messi’s new five-year deal with a reduced salary will persuade other players to follow suit.
However, the Argentine’s contract cannot be signed unless they sell players to comply with salary cap rules.
As a result, the likes of big-money signings Antoine Griezmann and Philippe Coutinho have been linked with exits this summer to free up funds.
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