The salary cut will start with the captains

• Barcelona needs to cut salaries urgently to reduce the wage bill and to be able to register new players 

• Case by case: it will be negotiated individually with each footballer

• They will talk with the captains and with the players with higher salaries

While the agreements for the sale of up to 25% of future television rights and 49.9% of BLM are being negotiated, two operations that must be approved by the Members’ Assembly on June 16, another of the club’s priorities is to renegotiate the lower the great contracts of the locker room of FC Barcelona. There will not be a general reduction and it will be negotiated on a case-by-case basis, as the economic vice-president Eduard Romeu confirmed yesterday at RAC1: “Negotiations with the staff will be individual, coffee for all will not apply in this house”.

The first to go through the office will be the first three captains, Busquets, Piqué, and Alba. Even though they have already signed discounts or deferrals, they have the highest contracts in the workforce, far removed from the current economic situation. For this reason, they will be the first with whom the club will negotiate since to lower the wage bill and be able to register new players, an effort by the captains and those players with higher contracts is essential.

Each case will be negotiated individually and the idea is to start negotiating as soon as possible. You can opt for a salary reduction, for another deferment or they will even be asked if they want to give up certain ‘bonuses’ that they have signed and that trigger the cost of sports salaries.

Busquets, Piqué, and Alba are the first names that appear when it comes to lowering salaries, but the Board has found many contracts, not only for the captains, inherited from the past with amounts that are unsustainable in the current situation and that is why it is now an urgency to lower the sports wage bill.

From the statements made yesterday by vice-president Eduard Romeu in RAC1, it can be deduced that the club does not rule out the departure of any of the ‘sacred cows’ either, although having a signed contract is a decision that they leave in the hands of the footballers. In principle, there are no doubts about the continuity of Busquets and Alba, who today do not have a replacement in the squad, but MD already published last week that there were certain doubts in the club about the future of Gerard Piqué, although the center-back is convinced to continue and fulfill his contract until 2024.

In the next few days, the club will start the round of negotiations with the players, possibly when the Nations League matches are over, and they hope to urgently lower the wage bill for next season, since otherwise they will not be able to sign players like Lewandowski and not even Kessié and Christensen, who are already signed, could be registered.

Mateu Alemany is, in principle, the person in charge of leading these negotiations with the players and their agents, while also negotiating the departure of those players that Xavi does not have. Some have understood the situation and will not be able to hinder, while others like Braithwaite have already declared that they have two more years signed and plan to fulfill them even if the coach does not have him. Weeks of a lot of work are coming for the sports area.