Gerard Pique the only player who ‘volunteered to take pay cut’ to save Barcelona

Danny Jones

Pique is thought to be the only player who offered have his salary slashed

Barca are a mess. As well as being on the verge of losing Messi for good as he looks set to sign a two-year deal at PSG, they are still drastically in debt and cannot register any of their new signings.

Oh, and one of them, Sergio Aguero, is not only injured already but already wants to leave. He’s likely not the only one: playing with Messi was literally the biggest draw that club has – or rather, had.

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Though the club is entirely to blame for letting things get this bad, they have been trying to take steps in order to save their skin, including asking players to take a pay cut. Regardless, it hasn’t done much so far as many players have refused and, as it turns out, only one of them actually volunteered: Gerard Pique.

The likes of Sergio Busquets and Sergi Roberto have already agreed to wage cuts but the 34-year-old is believed to be the only one who actually offered to sacrifice his current salary before it was suggested as a slim strategy towards salvation.

Jaume Llopis – a former member of the Espai Barça commission who recently resigned of the Messi, well, mess – told El Larguero that “The only one who has agreed to reduce his card on his own accord has been Pique. The rest, not one.” Turns out Pique is a top bloke and Shakira might be the lucky one.

Of course, there are still some outliers in the squad: Samuel Umtiti – who was booed on his return to the squad – Pjanic and even long-time servant, Jordi Alba, are reported to have rejected their latest contracts and salary reduction. Laporta and the board are said to be considering legal action against those who are still refusing but this pretty much a disaster of their design.

It is believed that Messi was also willing to accept a pay cut of 50 per cent of his astronomical wages but, alas, it wouldn’t have made a smidge of difference as Spanish law would not have allowed the Argentine’s to half his salary anyway:

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So, the moral is, even the Pique’s paragon-like virtues (at least in footballing terms) and whether Messi did his best to stay at the club or not, they’ve been financially nosediving for far too long and who knows how bad it’s going to get before the end?

The only people that are going to come out of this looking good are Pique and any other player who had the self-awareness to realise that even a fraction of their incredible pay packet would do. Nevertheless, it might all be for not.