BARCELONA have been told they need to slash their wage bill by £171million today or risk bankruptcy, according to reports.
A deadline was set by November 5 to agree further wage cuts so their budget can be released.
Lionel Messi is the club’s top earner on £500,000-a-weekCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Their dismal finances were laid bare last month following losses of a staggering £88m.
It means the Catalan giant’s debt has risen to a whopping £443m with revenue down £122.5m due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Barca’s wage bill, around £355m a year, is continuing to cripple their finances and drastic measures need to be taken.
According to the Daily Mail, the board are holding a showdown meeting with first-team players on Wednesday in an attempt to cut their wages.
Lionel Messi is the club’s top earner taking home around £500,000-a-week.
Antoine Griezmann earns around £294,000-a-week while Philippe Coutinho pockets £180,000.
Stars already accepted a wage decrease, said to be as much as 70 per cent, in the spring amid the onset of the pandemic.
It is further reported that players understand the severity of the situation and are open to another pay cut.
Antoine Griezmann is also one of the club’s top earnersCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Stars like Coutinho will be asked to take a pay cutCredit: Getty Images – Getty
One option is to lower their salaries in the short term but spread the full amount over a long period of time.
But if the players refuse to take a cut, then they could leave for free warns the Association of Spanish Footballers (AFE).
They wrote in a statement: “The club cannot fail to be aware that this process, if carried out in the terms set forth, will entail a more than secure challenge to the measures that are finally adopted, with a high risk of nullity, and the automatic right to indemnified termination of the employment contract of the affected workers, by virtue of the application of article 41 ET itself.
“We believe that the club must be frank with its members and assume before them that these measures will lead to a very significant loss of FC Barcelona’s assets.”
Barcelona are in disarray off the field following the resignation of club president Josep Maria Bartomeu.
A new board headed by Carles Tusquets is in charge until next year’s elections but he wants to address the club’s finances immediately.
Tusquests said: “Our main concern is the club’s finances.
“The pandemic has affected Barcelona particularly hard.
“The club depends on tourism and now, all of that income has been lost.
“The situation is not very comfortable, we have to take on the ideas of the previous board to find a way of addressing the problems we are facing.”
Barcelona president Josep Bartomeu has handed in his resignation from the club
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
