Lionel Messi has revealed that he and his Barcelona teammates have agreed to take a pay-cut of 70% to ease out the situation due to current Coronavirus outbreak.
Messi and several of his teammates have released a statement through their respective social media handle that they have accepted the pay-cut for their team. They have also mentioned that they will take care of all Barcelona staff during this trying time so that they could continue to receive 100% of their salaries.
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Much has been written and said about the first football team of FC Barcelona in regards to the salaries of the players during this period of State of Alarm.
First of all, we want to clarify that our will has always been to apply a drop in the salary that we receive, because we fully understand that this is an exceptional situation and we are the first ones who have ALWAYS helped the club when asked. Even many times we have also done it on our own initiative, at other times that we will go necessary or important.
Therefore, it does not cease to surprise us that from within the club there were those who tried to put us under the magnifying glass and tried to add pressure to us to do that we also always knew what we would do. In fact, if the agreement has been delayed for a few days it is simply because we were looking for a formula to help the club and also its workers in these difficult times.
For our part, the time has come to announce that, apart from the reduction of 70% of our salary during the State of Alarm, we will also make contributions so that club employees can collect 100% of their salary while this situation lasts.
If we did not speak until now it was because the priority for us was to find solutions that were real to walk to the club, but also to those who were most affected by this situation.
We do not want to say goodbye without sending an affectionate greeting and a lot of strength to all the curlers who are having a hard time at these difficult times, as well as to all those who patiently await the end of this crisis in their homes. Very soon we are going to get out of this and we will all do it together.
Statement shared by Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, der Stegen in their Social Media handle
The statement from players also mentioned that the players are the ones to bear the brunt of the economic impact on the club, and criticised the board for their handling of those measures and for what he sees as an attempt to turn public opinion against them. A statement from Barcelona soon after confirmed the measures.
The statement also clarifies the reason why the negotiation took so long. In contrast to some media report that earlier pointed finger towards players.
Far from ending tension at the Camp Nou, the statement underlined the mistrust and the breakdown in the relationship between the boardroom and the dressing room.
The same message was also shared by several Barcelona teammates, like Luis Suarez, Marc-Andre ter Stegen etc.
Earlier Barcelona released an official statement saying that its board members have reached an agreement with all the professional teams about reductions in salaries to cope with Covid-19 pandemic.
Spain’s football authorities are no closer to knowing whether competition will resume this season or the full impact on the game. Barcelona were the first club to announce plans to request an ERTE, followed by Atlético Madrid, Espanyol and Alavés, and of the teams in the top division their situation is probably the most precarious.
