The contract that made Piqué the best-paid center-back in the world: 142 million in five years

• ESTEBAN URREIZTIETA

  @eurreiztieta

  Barcelona

• ORPHEUS SUAREZ

  @OrfeoSuarez

  Barcelona

• ILLUSTRATION: ASSESSMENT OF RIVERS

Updated Wednesday, September 21, 2022-20:58

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• Barçaleaks Messi's brutal demands on Barça: "Let them feel the sword on their head"

In January 2018,

signed the biggest contract of his career with

, ​​months before his link with the Barça club was due to expire.

It was a month after

signed the biggest in football history with the Barça club.

The footballer was guaranteed

in force, since it was applied to the current one (2017/18) until 2021-22, according to the contract ready for signature that the club sends him a month before its renewal was made public on

.

This gives a figure of

, which could increase if some objective-related bonuses were met.

When Piqué went to

to talk about the conditions, he told him that he wanted to be the highest-paid center-back in the world and

, according to sources close to the negotiation.

in the white club

.

The azulgrana was, after taxes, around

.

The economic conditions of the employment contract are reflected in the fourth section, referring to "remuneration".

They established that Piqué would enter

.

In another contract, the part of income

would be added , since the law allows players to enter 15% of their income in their clubs for that concept, with a lower tax burden.

Next, the employment contract details numerous

linked to the achievement of objectives, in a structure similar to Messi's contract, in addition to others for special rewards and

.

When reaching point 4.6, however, the document is clear: "FC Barcelona guarantees that during the term of this contract, the player will receive

, computing for such purposes the amounts paid by the club under of the concepts established in 4.1 (with the exception of the special prize of article 4.19 and the extraordinary bonus of section 4.1.10)".

The

were conditional on the footballer appearing linked to the club until June 30 of the last season, that is, the current one, and he had achieved the aforementioned merits.

In point 4.1.9 it is stated: "In addition to the amounts indicated above, the player will receive a

that will be payable by 50%, that is, 7,723,018 euros, on June 30, 2018 , and the other 50% on June 30, 2019".

In 4.1.10, "an extraordinary bonus of 7,414,186 euros is added, which will be payable on January 31, 2018. On the other hand, the

provides for income for the footballer of

for each of the five seasons. That is, 12 million in total. The sum of the guaranteed amount, in which it is understood that a bonus for loyalty would be included, plus the "special prize", the "extraordinary bonus" and income from image throw a total amount of

.

That is, 28.4 per year.

That contract was sent after negotiations by

, from Barcelona, ​​to

, the player's agent, on December 15, 2017, by mail with the following words: "Here is the signable version of the two contracts".

On the 18th of the following month, after Christmas, its renewal was announced.

If there was any last minute modification by Piqué's advisers, it could only benefit the footballer.

"tax bonus"

In the calculation of the emoluments, the club included what it calls "

" to compensate for the records that the Treasury had drawn up for the footballer for a VAT claim and that, grossed up, amounted to 7.1 million.

"As for the tax bonus,

(referring to the contracts). I have taken the firm amounts and the agreement of the unpaid invoices of 2016, raised to the gross of 10.89%. I think that the criterion is defensible", explains Ángel Rocamora to the legal services of the club.

The arrival of the

, three years later, would cause

, extended before its completion with other conditions.

On the one hand, Piqué, like the rest of the squad, agreed to specific salary cuts with the board in June 2020. As Leo Messi himself announced, up to

during the state of alarm decreed by the Government, after a controversy between the board and the staff, and after the club's employees suffered an ERTE.

Extension and deferral of amounts

The devastating effects of the pandemic, however, made the cuts insufficient for a club that was living on the financial limit, due to the skyrocketing salary mass of its squad.

The problem was not only Messi's salary, but everyone's.

In October 2020, a week before Josep Maria Bartomeu resigned, several players agreed to negotiate his conditions, including

, as well as

,

and

.

In reality, it was about contract extensions in exchange for

hardest hit by the pandemic.

According to that agreement and the documentation to which EL MUNDO has had access, the amounts agreed in subsequent years with Piqué were

in the 2020/21 season,

in 2021/22,

in the 2022/23 and

in the last one, 2023/24.

The sum of the amounts shows even higher sums, although everything indicates that they would be based on the bonuses, adjustments and deferrals.

With the arrival of

, Barcelona has renegotiated with the squad for salary purposes, so these amounts may have been modified.

The center-back's salary has been the subject of controversy, in which Piqué himself participated by publishing in a tweet a seat of a six-monthly income of 2.3 million euros, in January 2022. It was the second season after the extension of his contract and the deferral of amounts, and it would only be an income without reference to other types of bonuses or prizes.

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• Leo Messi

• Joseph Maria Bartomeu

• Joan Laporta

• FC Barcelona

• Sergio Ramos

• Gerard Piqué