The 35-year-old former star Spanish centre-back Gerard Pique is reportedly not accepting the fresh salary reduction in his club Barcelona due to the club’s non-acceptance of his business dealings.
The football world is aware of the ongoing financial struggle in the Spanish club Barcelona. The debt-ridden Barca were forced to activate the fourth economic lever to officially register most of their new signings just ahead of the new La Liga season.
Though the Catalan club has officially announced the signing of the 23-year-old French centre-back Jules Kounde, the La Liga hasn’t registered him as a Barca player yet. Moreover, the Spanish giants are still busy with new signings as they want to add Bernardo Silva and Marcos Alonso to the squad. So, Barca have to cut the wages to register their new signings in the squad.
Gerard Pique and Barcelona on new salary adjustment talk
While Blaugrana are in talk with some of their senior players about the fresh salary cut, Gerard Pique reportedly agreed on it in some condition. However, the recent Barca Universal report claimed that Pique halted his salary deduction in the fresh talk.
Barca have recently activated the fourth economic lever this summer after selling an additional 24.5 per cent stake of Barca Studios to Orpheus Media for around €100 million.
The sources revealed to Barca Universal that Pique wanted to buy that 24.5 per cent stake of Barca Studios before that deal was finalised with Orpheus Media. However, the club didn’t accept that offer from their veteran centre-back.
In the aftermath, Pique is now denying to accept the salary reduction. Last summer, he reportedly accepted a significant pay cut that helped the club to sign crucial names.
Earlier, there was news about Pique’s attempt to buy around a 49 per cent stake of Barca Corporate through his company, Kosmos. However, Josep Maria Bartomeu, then club President, didn’t allow him to put that offer officially due to the fear of a breach of the club’s code of ethics.