Barcelona defender Gerard Pique published the details of the salary he receives from the Catalan club, in response to a prominent Spanish journalist who claimed that he and his teammates receive high salaries from the financially troubled club.
Pique posted on his Twitter account a picture stating that he had received about 2.3 million euros on December 30, which represents half of his annual salary.
Commenting on the published photo, Pique demanded "a little respect".
Personatges com aquest cobrant d'una televisió pública per defense els seus amics.
Aquí tens el 50% de la meva nòmina cobrada a 30 de desembre.
Respecta't una mica.
https://t.co/luHsMMqJD8 pic.twitter.com/l4IAtqvexU
— Gerard Piqué (@3gerardpique) January 7, 2022
Journalist Louis Canute had reported that Pique, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba and Samuel Umtiti were paid huge sums of money, without citing a source.
Canute claimed in the leaks - which he published on the Spanish channel "Esport3" (Esport3) yesterday, Friday - that Pique topped the list of the highest paid in Barcelona with an annual salary of 28 million euros, and Sergio Busquets came in second place with 23 million euros annually, a difference of 3 million Euro for Jordi Alba, who is in third place.
Barcelona rejected the statements, describing them as "wrong and not realistic," adding that some of the players named were linked to variable contracts and could not reach the numbers mentioned by Canute.
Barcelona suffers from debts of more than 1.3 billion euros, and has lost the efforts of Argentine star Lionel Messi, who moved to Paris Saint-Germain in a free transfer deal, because it is not possible to renew with him, as Barcelona is subject to the restrictions of the Spanish League related to the wage ceiling.