Lionel Messi blasts Barcelona board after stars agree 70% pay cut

(Image: Getty Images)

Lionel Messi has hit out at Barcelona's bigwigs for his or her handling of salary cut measures at the Nou Camp.

The Catalan side, just like the majority of sporting organisations round the globe, are trying to find the simplest thanks to handle the financial ramifications of the coronavirus pandemic.

Laws in Spain allow the club to use for an ERTE, which suggests they will impose a short lived salary cut of up 70% on their employees during these unprecedented times.

Messi and his team-mates will take the deduction but the law would've meant non-playing staff also had to simply accept an equivalent cut.

The Argentine though released a press release on his Instagram which stated the club's employees would retain everything of their salary.

It read: “Beyond the reduction of 70% of our salaries during the state of alarm, we also are getting to make further contribution to make sure that the workers can still be paid 100% of their salaries for as long as this example lasts."

But the statement also showed mounting tension at the club with Messi also writing about how the players were willing to require a salary cut , yet a negotiation seemed so hard to return by.

Media leaks had made it seem as if the squad were against reducing their income, which Argentina maintains isn't the case.

 “A lot has been written and said about the football varsity at FC Barcelona, when it involves the players’ salaries during this state of alarm,” the statement opened.

“First of all, we might wish to clarify that we've always been willing to use a wage cut, because we understand perfectly that this is often an exceptional situation and that we are ALWAYS the primary to assist the club once we are asked to.

"Indeed, we've often done so on our own initiative in those moments during which we've considered it important or necessary.

For that reason, we cannot help but be surprised by the very fact that from within the club there are those trying to place us under the microscope or apply pressure for us to try to to something that we've always been clear that we might do,

“In fact, if an agreement has taken a couple of days to be reached it's just because we were seeking a formula to assist the club and also to assist its employees in these very difficult times.

“If we didn't speak publicly before, it had been because our priority was to seek out real solutions that would truly help the club and also those that are getting to be most suffering from this example .”

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