Just like last summer, Barcelona once again encountered major problems with their efforts to register their five new signings and two players who had signed contract renewals.
Ultimately, though, the Blaugrana were able to register six out of the seven players on Friday night, with Jules Kounde’s registration left pending for the moment.
The activation of the fourth economic lever by selling 25% of Barça Studios for €100 million paved the way for Barça to successfully register the six players.
Prior to that, though, the Catalan heavyweights were once again looking to enforce pay cuts or salary deferrals on club captains Gerard Pique and Sergio Busquets.
The pair had agreed to pay cuts and deferrals last summer as well, to enable the registration of Memphis Depay and Eric Garcia. Talks had once again been underway between the club and the two captains regarding a similar operation this summer as well.
However, Mundo Deportivo reports that the negotiations with both Busquets and Pique have currently stalled due to some complications.
With Busquets, Barcelona were negotiating a deferred payment and not a salary reduction. However, the formula that the club were proposing would require the midfielder to extend his contract until 2024, something he is not willing to do as he wishes to leave the club next year.
As for Pique, the veteran defender was ready to reduce his wages and agree to a deferred payment as well. However, the contracts prepared by the club did not meet the payment guarantees that the defender was expecting, leading to talks stalling.
Amidst this, La Liga’s economic control commission was keeping a close watch on the dealings as consecutive deferrals of payments could be seen as an ‘exploitation of rules’ by the league.
Hence, Barcelona have not decided to go ahead with the deferrals for the time being as it is no longer an utmost necessity now that they are back to the 1/1 rule. So, as things stand, there is no agreement with Pique or Busquets about a pay cut and salary deferral.