FC Barcelona’s dysfunctional relationship with Gerard Pique has been well-documented in recent years.
The club owes a significant fortune to the defender through deferred salaries and even after the pandemic, the Catalans have continued to rely on the player to take salary cuts, in their attempts to lower the cost of the workforce.
A new report from Diari ARA has offered some key insights into Pique’s most recent negotiations with Barcelona when the club wanted to lower his salary.
During the negotiations, it appears Pique had tried to include an ambitious clause in his salary reduction terms. He had attempted to make the reduction conditional on him taking over the rights of Barça Studios.
Barça Studios is one of the many entities that serve as Barcelona’s key sources of revenue. It was also used as an economic lever earlier in the summer, in order to generate more funds for the registration of the new signings, including Jules Kounde.
According to the report, Pique had wanted a certain percentage of the rights to himself, in lieu of yet another salary cut. But the move was blocked by club president Joan Laporta, who found it incompatible with the code of ethics.
Indeed, a player is not allowed to use his position to obtain business advantages. As such, Gerard Pique’s terms were not even considered by Barça, let alone agreed.
That said, Barcelona still owe a fortune to Gerard Pique and sooner or later, the club must find an economic solution to pay the dues. The player, on his part, has remained silent on the issue and is looking to work behind the scenes to get the best deal out from the club.
Aside from Pique, Frenkie de Jong has also had to endure a tricky contract situation with Barcelona, so it will be interesting to see how the club tackle this situation in the near future.