After Gerard Pique’s retirement, the focus now moves towards a certain Sergio Busquets whose ongoing deal with Barcelona ends at the end of the season.
Now, there are assertive claims that the veteran midfielder will move to the Major League Soccer (MLS) to pursue his further ambitions, but there remains one aspect that the parties involved will have to sort out.
The issue in question is receiving the deferred salary that the team needs to pay their captain. According to SPORT, the Blaugrana proposed a contract for two more years in the summer through which he would have received his emoluments.
But Busquets refused to work on the proposal as he felt that the club did not give him enough guarantees of the payments.
Instead, the 34-year-old will continue to draw the arrears that he is owed by the team over the next two seasons, even though he will no longer be at the club.
It’s important to note that Busquets currently earns €13 million gross per season plus bonuses at Barcelona. This season, the midfielder received a major chunk of what he owned from the last campaign, which SPORT says was 75% of his salary
After the COVID-19 pandemic hit Barcelona, Busquets has been one of several players who have lowered their wages multiple times.
Despite his contract situation, the 34-year-old still remains a key member of the team mostly because Xavi does not really have a substitute at hand. In that regard, the likes of Ruben Neves, Martin Zubimendi and Jorginho are on the shortlist but nothing is concrete at the moment.
As far as Busquets is concerned, he is looking forward to changing his current environment, meaning that he is most likely to move to the United States, with Inter Miami being the expected destination.
Once he understands he is close to hanging up his boots, he will start preparing himself to become a professional coach. That’s the blueprint he has in mind.