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Philippe Coutinho and Antoine Griezmann are among the players negotiating new contracts with Barcelona as part of short-term cost-cutting measures at the Camp Nou, sources told ESPN.
Sergio Busquets and Sergi Roberto, who share the same agent, are also in talks about renewed terms as Barça continue to look for ways to limit the financial repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic.
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Gerard Piqué, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Frenkie de Jong and Clement Lenglet have already agreed new agreements.
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Barça confirmed on Tuesday that the quartet’s new contracts “include a temporary salary adjustment due to the current circumstances caused by the crisis induced by COVID-19.”
Sources told ESPN that means they have agreed to a reduction in their salaries for the 2020-21 season, but that they will be paid in the final years of their new contracts.
Coutinho and Griezmann, whose deals run through 2023 and 2024 respectively, are also negotiating a similar adjustment to their deals that would help the club cut spending for this season.
Barcelona is desperate to reduce its wage bill in light of the financial problems caused by the global pandemic.
They announced losses of 97 million euros for the 2019-20 season earlier this month and revealed that the club’s debt had more than doubled to 488 million euros, all while trying to manage a salary bill of around 500 million euros. .
Luis Suárez, Arturo Vidal and Ivan Rakitic, the great locals, have moved on, but Barça still needed to find other ways to cut costs.
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The next step is to negotiate pay cuts with playing and non-playing staff and a committee was formed on Wednesday to push for cuts across the board.
“The effects of the pandemic in this current season are much more notable than in the previous season, as it was affected only in the last three-month period from April to June,” Barça said in a statement.
The club foresees a fall in income of more than 30% and, consequently, is forced to look for immediate solutions to reduce spending ”.
The squad of the Barça first team will not be represented in the negotiations. They actively decided not to get involved due to discrepancies on how the board of directors, led by Josep Maria Bartomeu, has handled the issue.
The players believe that negotiations between them and the board should be independent from those involving the other club employees, who do not believe that their salary is affected.
The four players who signed new deals on Tuesday and new signings Sergino Dest and Miralem Pjanic are exempt from the talks as their contracts were signed with the economic situation in mind.
“Given the importance of the decisions that must be taken to guarantee the club’s sustainability during the time in which the pandemic affects us, the club remains open to the incorporation of players’ agents to the negotiating committee,” added Barça. .
Spanish Players Association [AFE] came out in support of Barça players on Wednesday, criticizing the Catalan club’s behavior and backing the call for separate negotiations.
Source: espn.co.uk
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