Barcelona 'ask Pique, Busquets, Roberto and Alba to take a pay cut'

Barcelona have asked senior members of the squad to take pay cuts in a bid to persuade the rest of the team to follow suit.

Barcelona's sporting director, Mateu Alemany, has met with the agents of Sergi Roberto, Sergio Busquets, Gerard Pique and Jordi Alba to discuss the proposal.

The club hopes their cooperation will help reduce Barcelona's wage bill as the look to adhere to the financial fair play rules for the 2021-22 campaign.

As it stands, Barcelona need to wipe £156million (€187m) off their existing wage bill. Their limit was £296m (€347m) last year and now it’s £136m (€160m).

Therefore, according to ES Sport, Barcelona have sent a personalised letter to each squad member - outlining the club's current financial situation.

They hope the letters will highlight the importance of the pay cuts and encourage senior figures within the squad to accept their proposal.

Previous discussions surrounding pay cuts at Barcelona have not always gone well. The club initially asked the players to agree to a 40 per cent wage cut, but this was rejected by the squad.

As a result, they then offered to extend each player's contract for the same amount of money. Effectively allowing them to earn the same amount but over a great period of time.

Some players, including as Pique, De Jong, Lenglet and Ter Stegen, agreed to such terms. While other players refused.

Barcelona are eager for the players to accept a pay cut this time round as they look to finalise Lionel Messi's new contract and register their four new signings.

The club hope confirmation of Messi's new five-year deal with a reduced salary will persuade other players to follow suit. However, the Argentine’s contract cannot be signed unless they sell players.

As a result, the likes of Antoine Griezmann, Philippe Coutinho and defender Junior Firpo have been linked with exits this summer.