Picture Credit: Twitter
FC Barcelona's defender Gerard Pique made it a point to prove that he was not the club's highest earner. Contrary to what was being reported on the Spanish television network, Pique it seems is not getting that much amount as is being claimed and has reportedly taken a pay cut at the club.
To prove his point, the 34-year-old shared an image of a bank transfer on his social media account. While broadcast networks were claiming he was getting a whopping €14million (£11.7m) a season from the Catalan giants, Pique, revealed on social media half his yearly salary which was credited to him on December 2021. The figure amounted to €2,328,884.39 (£1.94m)- far less than what was being claimed by journalist Lluis Canut.
Pique's tweet clearly seems to be targetting the journalist. He wrote, "People like this are paid by public television to defend their friends. Here is 50% of my salary as of 30 December. Have a bit of respect for yourself."
Here is the tweet:
Notably, it was Barcelona's increased expenses on the wage bill that saw the club part ways with their star footballer Lionel Messi. However, the Catalan giants in an official statement have defended their senior players saying that the accusation that their senior players charge a lot of money is false.
"It is false that the aforementioned players have only deferred 100% of their salary. Messrs. Pique, Busquets and Alba gave up part of their salary when they signed the last contract renewal last summer," Barca said in their statement.
Barcelona's statement added: 'We consider it inappropriate, unprofessional and that [Canut] has acted in bad faith by offering this information as truthful."
"We regret that data of this type is provided because it infringes the personal rights of the players and deserves when the information is true confidentiality," it further said.
Earlier in October 2021, it was learnt that the Spanish club were in fact on the verge of bankruptcy when Joan Laporta replaced Josep Bartomeu as the President of the club. While things might have seemingly improved on the financial front, they are struggling in terms of the brand of football that they play and are currently fifth on the domestic league with arch-rivals Real Madrid leading the La Liga table.