No, FC Barcelona isn't back in 2020. But it has officially said goodbye to a dark period in its recent history. Under the presidency of Josep Maria Bartomeu, the Catalan club experienced significant financial difficulties, even to the point of having to say goodbye to legend Lionel Messi. Unable to pay the Argentine's salary, Barça was also not helped by the Covid crisis. At the time, the club negotiated a salary deferral for the squad. A "debt" that the club continued to carry for a long time.
At the time, the case of Gerard Piqué was particularly talked about. President Bartomeu had thus given colossal salaries to the latest summer recruits and to the Barcelona players who had renewed their contracts. As a result, the Spanish press revealed that Barça owed Piqué no less than 50 million euros due to the salary deferral during the pandemic. An enormous sum that the player had partially recovered. Because in the middle of the season, he had decided to end his career and had agreed to give up a significant portion of his salary.
Barça paid for everything
But the former Spanish international wasn't the only player in this situation. The club also had to pay the salaries of several players, such as Samuel Umtiti, who earned a colossal €20 million salary, as well as Philippe Coutinho and Lionel Messi. This Saturday, Sport revealed that in recent days, Barça has finally finished reimbursing these players' salaries. The Catalan club's management company had decided to spread the repayments over eight installments: December 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024, and June 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025. The final payment, scheduled for June 30, 2025, has just been validated by the club's financial department.
In total, Barça will pay €16 million to settle the remaining outstanding payments. This concerns 20 players who were part of the first team, and nine of Barça Atlètic's highest-paid players, as well as Ronald Koeman and his three assistant managers. The players concerned are none other than Lionel Messi, Samuel Umtiti, Ousmane Dembélé, Miralem Pjanic, Sergi Roberto, Neto, Dest, Braithwaite, as well as Junior Firpo, Aleñá, Matheus Fernandes, Pedri, Trincao, Ansu Fati, Ronald Araujo, and Riqui Puig. Barça has finally put the demons of the past behind them.
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