On Monday, reports emerged claiming that Barcelona had deemed the contract extensions of four players, signed in 2020 under the regime of the previous president Josep Maria Bartomeu, to be illegal and invalid.
It was claimed that Barça had evidence that there was an element of ‘criminality’ involved in the extensions signed by Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Frenkie de Jong, Gerard Pique and Clement Lenglet, which makes them null and void, with the club prepared to take legal actions to rescind those deals.
The contract extensions that were handed out saw the players agree to reduce their salaries in the short term, with ridiculous pay raises included for the latter part of their deals.
While there have been no official responses from any of the players on the matter as of yet, de Jong’s camp is said to believe that Barcelona should assume responsibility for the club’s financial woes and honour the contract that was agreed upon.
Now, a report from SER Catalunya has revealed the stance of former president Josep Maria Bartomeu on the stance. The contract extension of the quartet was one of the final actions of the disgraced Barcelona supremo before he was forced to resign from his position.
And now, he is believed to have hit out at the allegations made by the current board questioning the legalities of the said contract extensions.
According to Bartomeu, Barcelona’s allegations have no standing as the contract extensions handed out to the four players had been ratified by the club’s lawyers as well as external auditors.
On top of that, the contracts had been verified thoroughly by La Liga before being registered. So, Bartomeu is of the belief that there was no wrongdoing with the contract extensions in 2020.
There is plenty more to come from this development as the fallout from Barcelona’s allegations continues