Madrid (AFP)
FC Barcelona players have agreed to cut their wages by 70% for the duration of the health crisis caused by the new coronavirus in Spain, Barça announced on Monday, four days after presenting a partial unemployment plan for its employees.
"The FC Barcelona steering committee, the members of the teams from all professional sports and the majority of the basketball team have reached an agreement to reduce their salaries during the alert period because of the COVID-19 ", said Barça in a statement at midday Monday.
"In the case of the first football team, the reduction will be greater than the 70% initially envisaged by the club. This additional gesture by the team, added to what the club will do, will guarantee 100% of the salaries of all non-sports staff, subject to a partial unemployment plan this week, "said the press release from the Catalan club.
In the process, the Argentinian star and striker of Barça Lionel Messi posted a message on his Instagram account to shed light on the negotiations around the reduction of wages in the blaugrana locker room.
"Above all, we wish to clarify that our desire has always been to accept a reduction in our salary, because we fully understand that this is an exceptional situation and we are ALWAYS the first to help the club when it comes to us. has been asked, "first assured the captain of Barça, out of his usual reserve to speak in the locker room.
"If we have not talked about it until now, it is because the priority for us was to find real solutions to help the club, but also to those who will be most affected in this crisis", justified the sixfold Ballon d'Or.
"So it surprises us a lot that from the club, internally, some people want to put us under criticism and try to pressure us to do something that the rest of us have always wanted to do. agreement was delayed a few days, it is simply because we were looking for the best formula ", tackled the" Pulga "(" chip ", in Spanish).
On Thursday, Barça announced a partial unemployment plan for its employees, to mitigate the impact on its finances of the coronavirus pandemic.
"For the most part, this is a reduction in the working day (...) and, consequently, a proportional reduction in the planned remuneration," the club explained.
© 2020 AFP