Seething Gerard Pique believes ex-Barcelona president Josep Bartomeu was behind the false claims he was club’s top earner, as he hits out at leak from someone ‘defending his friends’ after posting his PAYSLIP online
- Gerard Pique was forced to furiously insist he is not Barcelona’s highest earner
- A TV presenter in Catalonia claimed defender Pique earned £11.7million net
- Pique responded by posting his wage packet from the final six months of 2021
- He thinks the leak comes from unpopular former club president Josep Bartomeu
- Firing back at the claim, he said it came from someone ‘defending his friends’
Gerard Pique was infuriated by claims he was a top earner at Barcelona, in part, because he believed it was a slight directed at him by the previous president Josep Bartomeu.
In his rebuttal of the claim he earned €14million net (£11.7m) a season, Pique tweeted that it came from someone ‘defending his friends’ – a clear indication he believed the wages leak came from the previous board and from Bartomeu.
The club’s former president has always been keen on blaming the players for the current state of affairs and not of his own stewardship of the club.
Gerard Pique believes his wages leak came from former Barcelona president Josep Bartomeu
Bartomeu resigned from his role in October 2020 and has often pinned blame on players
Pique published his wage slip on Twitter on Friday night. The figure of approximately €2.3m (£1.94m) suggests he earns around €6m (€5m) in total, a long way short of the €14m claimed.
Players are paid twice a year (€2.3m x 2) but also receive an inferior amount as a monthly wage. This indicates an annual payment of €4.6m (£3.8m) with the monthly payments taking the figure up towards €6m.
Barcelona is a club divided and respected veteran broadcast Lluis Canut, who made the claim on Catalan television, is far closer to the previous regime than the current one.
Pique retorted to the claim by posting his wage packet (£1.94m) for the last six months in 2021
Catalan television presenter Lluis Canut said that Pique took home almost £12m after tax
Salaries are a more sensitive subject at Barcelona than ever before because the club needs to slash its wage bill to register new players. Pique took a wage cut at the start of the season to enable Barcelona to register Memphis Depay.
Barcelona are still struggling to register Ferran Torres even after the loan move of Philippe Coutinho to Aston Villa.
Villa are paying most of Coutinho’s wages but the league has a 1:4 rule for clubs who are in excess of their salary cap.
This means they need to generate four times as much via the loan of Coutinho as they spend on wages for Torres, hence the need to move out more players before the end of the transfer window.
