The financial issues at FC Barcelona are no secret, and the means of achieving stability comes at an obvious cost. For now, the next step that the Catalans are hoping to take is salary reductions. In particular, reductions in the case of two of the highest earners at the club.
German national and Barcelona number 1 between the sticks Marc Andre Ter Stegen and Dutch national and Barcelona midfielder maestro Frenkie De Jong are the two players who currently have massive financial agreements within their contracts.
Sporting-wise, both the 31-year-old goalkeeper and soon to be 26 years old midfielder are extremely vital to the essence of Xavi’s Barca, but are also especially costly in terms of their continuity when it comes to the financial aspect of things.
As things stand, the current contracts that both players are on were greenlit by Josep Maria Bartomeu during his presidency, where he agreed with the players to reduce their salaries during the COVID-19 pandemic to reduce expenditure and in return gave the players new contracts that would have more years in their period as well as increasing salaries as time passed.
While it may have seemed logical to some at that point in time, it becomes simply unfeasible for the Catalans at this point.
As per Mundo Deportivo, their current financial restrictions and economic problems require that they try to negotiate with both players a reintroduction of the same formula that they agreed to before, in that they increase the durations of their contracts with an increasing salary promised in exchange for reducing those numbers in the current moment.
FC Barcelona have already attempted this cost-saving measure in the past with mixed results. Last season, the club tried to renegotiate contracts with Sergio Busquets and Gerard Piqué. While Piqué eventually agreed to the deal, Busquets declined the offer, wanting to ensure he was paid what he was owed without any uncertainty about his future at the club.
This particular course of action is reportedly part of Barcelona’s “Feasibility plan” and is a vital step in the right direction for La Blaugrana to stabilize their condition and make them eligible in the face of ‘Financial Fairplay’ when bringing in new signings over the summer.
The club hopes that Ter Stegen and De Jong, two of their most valuable players, will agree to this renegotiation plan, although no agreement has been reached yet.
