The coronavirus pandemic has made life difficult for everyone, and football clubs are no exception. Facing financial difficulties in the months ahead, Barcelona asked players to take a salary reduction of up to 70 percent, which the squad realized is the need of the hour and agreed to, including Barca superstar Lionel Messi.
It was understood that the deal would ensure that Barcelona's employees will be direct beneficiaries. The club's superstars, many of whom are multi-millionaires, have agreed to shave off more than half of their normal monthly rates for the team to make payments to regular workers.
On this, Messi said that apart from the agreed pay cuts, the Barcelona first-team will be giving their due contributions, per the report from Fox News.
"The time has come to announce that, aside from the 70% reduction of our salary during this state of emergency, we will also make contributions so that the club's employees can collect one hundred percent of their salary as long as this situation lasts," the Argentine was reported as saying in his Instagram post.
At the same time, the Barca team captain has made clear that his fellow players were only happy to help. Messi dismissed the rumors that the club first-team initially resisted the idea of giving up money so that the club can operate as usual.
"We resisted speaking until now because our priority was to find real solutions to help the club, but also those who were going to be more affected by this situation," the skipper clarified, adding the delay in finalizing an agreement was not because the players are unwilling to help and make sacrifices.
Messi said the Barca players were "looking for a formula" to best help the club and the workers.
If blame has to be assigned on the delay, it rests on the Barcelona board alone, according to Messi. He lamented the fact that some in the hierarchy thought that putting the players under a magnifying glass will speed up the search for a solution.
"It does not cease to surprise us that from within the club there were those who tried to put us under the magnifying glass and tried to add pressure to do something that we always knew we would do," Metro reported Messi as saying.
He stressed that his teammates are well aware of the situation and the pressing need to sacrifice and make a contribution.
"We want to clarify that our will has always been to apply a drop in the salary we receive, because we fully understand that this is an exceptional situation and we are the first ones who have ALWAYS helped the club when asked," Messi explained.
Prior to the agreement, the Argentine made a substantial contribution to Spain's fight against the spread of the coronavirus, which to date, has resulted in an estimated 72,200 infections and 5,600 deaths.
