Will Barcelona still be in debt? The high salaries that are still at the club.

FC Barcelona seems to be failing at its summer target of significantly reducing its wage bill. The Catalan club is in debt to the tune of €1.3bn and had highlighted selling players, reducing their wage bill through pay cuts, and cancelling contracts of high-earners who are unwilling to take pay cuts as a means of slashing their debts. Other than debts, La Liga also compounded their problems by introducing a pay cap, a move that saw the club ultimately lose Lionel Messi.

Despite the Barcelona captain had agreed to take a 50% pay cut on his €1m a week contract, the club could still not afford to re-sign the player. Lionel Messi subsequently completed a move to Paris Saint-Germain on a €35m-a-year deal. Since his departure, Barcelona has tried to balance the books and have had some success but some high-earners still remain on the wage bill with little hope of moving them on. 

Barcelona defender, Gerard Pique had taken a substantial pay cut that allows the Catalan club to register new players Memphis Depay and Eric Garcia. However, French defender Samuel Umtiti is one of the high-earners that remain at the club but is unwilling to take a pay cut. Umtiti earns £212,000 weekly at Camp Nou. He is said to have rejected loans and permanent moves to clubs in the Ligue 1.

Another high-earner that Barcelona is facing difficulty moving on is Miralem Pjanic. The Bosnian midfielder has seen moves to Juventus and Inter Milan collapse. The 31-year-old is the joint 3rd-highest earner at Barcelona with £271,000 weekly. The 2nd-highest-earner, Phillipe Coutinho is also still on the club's books with his £406,000 weekly wages scaring off any potential suitors for the Brazilian's services. 

Other high-earners still on the list include Ousmane Dembele and Antoine Griezmann. None of the above players has announced their readiness to take a pay cut and this Barcelona might still be in huge debts as they shell out these sums weekly. It was reported that the club is ready to give players extended contracts in place of the high wages or outrightly cancel contracts players' contracts who do not take pay cuts.