Barcelona captains agree to reduce wages to help register new signings

FC Barcelona have been in a highly-publicised financial bind for the past couple of years, and the crisis has come to a head this summer. However, it turns out that the first team captains are willing to sacrifice their own salaries in order to help the club.

Veteran Gerard Pique is the first player to officially agreed to reduce his salary and help Barcelona register their new signings. He also revealed that contrary to previous reports, the salary deduction proposal did not face resistance from the club's other captains.

Following Barcelona's 4-2 victory against Real Sociedad in their opening La Liga match of the 2021/22 season, Pique said that Sergi Roberto, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba will also be finalising the terms of their salary cuts in the coming days.

"I've been in touch with the other captains and they're going to take a reduction too. It's just a matter of timing. That's why I could do it first to get it done quickly and help register players," he said, as quoted by Marca.

Pique's sacrifice was able to help Barcelona register new summer signings like Memphis Depay and Eric Garcia. "We're a family and the captains have been keen to do this from the first moment too," he added, clearly alluding to the whistling that Jordi Alba faced from the club's supporters. In the past weeks, reports surfaced that Alba was not willing to take one for the team. Pique said that it was a misunderstanding.

"I've been in touch with the other three captains, with Sergi, Busi and Jordi Alba, and they've all been keen to do this with the club from the first moment. But, they needed someone to do it officially already to be able to register players. I know the others are close to doing so too," he confirmed.

He then lamented that recent reports about the situation have not entirely been accurate. The inaccurate reports have caused the fans to turn against Alba, even though he was always on board with the plan. "I feel proud of the other captains and I want the players and fans to be all together," said Pique.

Moving forward, the victory against Real Sociedad is a sneak peek into the post-Messi era at FC Barcelona. Pique admitted that the Argentine's departure has left them missing his talent on the pitch, but he is convinced that they will be able to pick up the slack.

"I think we'll be competitive and fight for titles to the very end," he declared.