Lionel Messi confirms Barcelona players will take 70% wage cut with the Coronavirus outbreak to sustain the working staff at the club.
Barcelona captain Lionel Messi has confirmed on his Instagram that Barcelona players will take a huge 70% wage cut to sustain the income of working staff at the club amidst the pandemic.
Contrary to the reports, where it was circulated that Barcelona’s squad was not willing to take the cut in their wages. However, Messi has denied all the allegations and confronted it in his post.
“It doesn’t cease to surprise us that within the club there were those who tried to put us under the limelight and add pressure for us to do exactly what we intended,” read Messi’s statement.
“On our behalf, it’s time to announce that, besides reducing our wage by 70% during the State of Emergency we’ll also contribute so that club employees can count on 100% of their salary as long as the current situation doesn’t change.
“The reason we hadn’t made this public was our need to find real solutions in order to help the club, but also those most affected by this situation.”
The statement seems to be an attack on the club’s board, and president Josep Maria Bartomeu, who recently announced publicly that the players had been asked to accept a reduction in their wages until football returns.
Messi has claimed that the squad did not need to be asked and were merely taking some time to find the best solution. Earlier, Barcelona’s players were slammed by the media for not accepting the cut.
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“There was always going to be a drop in the salary we receive, because we understand that this is an exceptional situation and we are the first ones who have ALWAYS helped the club when it has asked us, Many times we have even done it on our own initiative.” read the statement.
