Exits of soccer players or salary reductions are the two premises with which Barcelona works to be able to register Koundé and undertake the signings (Marcos Alonso and Bernardo Silva) with which to close their squad. With the situation of Braithwaite, Umtiti, Memphis, Dest, De Jong and Aubameyang entrenched, the solution lies in the benevolence of the captains to release salary mass, something to which Pique and Busquets they were receptive, but that in the last few hours has gone awry.
The agreement that Piqué was about to reach with the club last Friday suffered a slowdown when the Catalan did not receive the payment guarantees he demanded after agreeing to defer his salary again. The center-back felt like the protagonist of the fable ‘El hacha y el mango’ (an ax asks the tree to give it a branch with which to make a mango and then cut it down) when the club asked him to make an effort to be able to register Koundé, the central defender who is going to relegate him to ostracism. Because if Piqué has been alternate Throughout the preseason and in the first official match, the arrival of the Frenchman, for whom 55 million have been paid, would deprive him of the few opportunities in the new role that Xavi already warned him about a few weeks ago.
“It is a great virtue to be generous and charitable, but not if you are with your enemy,” he warns. Felix Maria de Samaniego, author of the illustrative fable. And Piqué has taken it into account. The coach warned him that he wanted to avoid the same sensations he suffered when Luis Enrique relegated him to the bench in his last year at Barça. His physical problems, his discomfort with his business dealings and his hectic private life weighed heavily on the balance of Xavi’s decisions. “Bring me the best central defender in the world who will be a substitute with me,” defended Piqué, who is now attending upset to the request of the club so that he helps with his salary to finance the handle of the ax that will cut off his presence in the team.
In addition, with a contract until June 30, 2024, the Catalan runs into the economic control commission of LaLiga, which sees a certain irregularity to defer his salary again over the next two seasons when he already did it last year. Piqué wants to help the club of his life, but that does not diminish his discomfort when seeing the waste he is making The door, to which is added the refusal of other footballers of those who earn the most to make the same effort, such as Frenkie de Jong, who has already deferred salary and this year demands the 23 million owed to him. Piqué and Barcelona will continue negotiating this week, but his agent sees it as difficult to reach an agreement.
Nor does it seem easy Sergio Busquets can lighten salary mass despite their predisposition. The captain’s contract ends this year and the club has proposed renewing a season to be able to postpone a significant amount of his file. However, the midfielder has demanded a release clause in 2023 because he wants to go to the MLS, which would generate tax problems, since it is complicated at the contractual level to ensure an exit option when salary is deferred for the following year.
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