Help the team or go: The Barca players who have agreed to pay cuts and the ones who are leaving

Barcelona President, Joan Laporta is looking to save up to €200m for the club during the 2021-22 season by implementing a massive pay cut strategy. The new President is looking to dig the club out of over €1.3bn of debts and would look internally for the solution. Laporta will reportedly demand that some high-earners take significant pay cuts while he will sell off some others to other clubs. 

Barcelona Icon, Gerard Pique has led the fight from the front by taking a significant pay cut from his current salary. Pique's pay cut has enabled the club to register new signings Memphis Depay and Eric Garcia. Other captains at Camp Nou are also expected to follow suit by taking pay cuts. Sergio Busquets, Sergio Roberto and Jordi Alba are all expected to announce a reduction in their salaries soon. Laporta hopes that the gesture from Pique will have a knock-on effect on all the squad members and hasten the process of the wage bill reduction. 

However, the Barca President would also be prepared to sell some of the high-earners on the wage bill who are either not ready to take pay cuts or who are deemed surplus to requirements. Players such as Miralem Pjanic, Phillipe Coutinho and Samuel Umtiti all feature on the list of players that Barcelona wants to sell. Though, a combination of their age, performance level and sell-on value have made many clubs baulk at the asking price for these players. 

Barcelona's financial struggles are well documented with over €1.3bn owed in debts. Laporta revealed that his board had to take out a loan of €80m immediately after he came into office because the club could not afford to pay players' salaries. This also led to the inability of the club to re-sign Lionel Messi even after the Argentine agreed to take a 50% pay cut.