Gerard Pique was the only Barcelona player who agreed to take a pay cut ‘on his own accord’ in the Spanish club’s desperate bid to reduce their wage bill.
That is according to Jaume Llopis, who resigned from Barcelona’s board of directors over Joan Laporta’s handling of Lionel Messi’s situation at the Camp Nou.
According to The Independent, Barcelona’s current wage percentage needs to be at 70 per cent to fall in line with La Liga regulations.
However, the La Liga club’s wage bill is at 95 per cent before Barcelona’s failed bid to sign Messi to a new deal.
Barcelona were unable to push through Messi’s new contract due to the Spanish league’s financial rules.
Now, Llopis told El Larguero that Pique was the only Barcelona player who decided to take a voluntary pay cut amid the club’s financial woes.
🔴🔵 Jaume Llopis, exmiembro de la Comisión del Espai Barça, en @ellarguero
👉 “Veremos si el Barça es capaz de bajar la masa salarial. El único que por motu propio ha aceptado reducirse la ficha ha sido Piqué. Los demás, ni uno”https://t.co/lqpYfQEpYh pic.twitter.com/H0tgalTJY8
— El Larguero (@ellarguero) August 9, 2021
The former member of Laporta’s board ruthlessly criticised the Barcelona president over Messi’s exit at the Camp Nou.
“I didn’t want to cause such a commotion, I resigned to have the freedom to be able to say what many Barcelona fans think and demand transparency, which is something that has been lacking,” Llopis told Cadena SER (via Diario AS).
“Leo even said so himself: ‘They didn’t do everything that could have been done.’ I have been a club member for 66 years.”
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| Credit: PA |
Pique, 34, posted an emotionally charged statement on social media by claiming that nothing would be the “same again” after Messi’s exit from Barcelona.
The Barcelona defender wrote on Instagram: “Nothing will be the same again. Neither the Camp Nou, nor the city of Barcelona, nor ourselves.
“After more than 20 years at the club, you will stop wearing the Barca T-shirt. Reality, sometimes, is very hard.
“We met in 2000, we were 13 years old and a career ahead. What career! The mother who gave birth to us! If we had designed it at that time, it was impossible to do it better. A f*****g madness!
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“In my first season, after returning to FC Barcelona, we won the treble and you became the best player of all time. From Rosario to touch the sky in Rome. There began the legend. What came after is history. And what good is it happened! “Now you leave, but I know that one day you will come back. There are things to do pending. Pass it well, enjoy wherever you go and keep winning like only you know how to do. “Here we are going to miss you. I love you, Leo.” Featured Image Credit: PA |