In the shadow of Barcelona’s great start to the season on the grass, the secrets behind the scenes continue to be revealed and tonight (Wednesday) in “El Mundo” they revealed details regarding Gerard Pique. According to the newspaper, the player became the highest paid stopper in the world while the club’s offices were busy writing a report detailing the great damage the player caused to the team following the conflict of interest between the club and his private businesses.
The matter began with the documentary released by Antoine Griezmann in the 2017/18 season, in which he said that he chooses to stay at Atlético Madrid and not move to Barcelona. The same film was produced by a company owned by Fika, and the club did not like it and claimed that it endangered Bartomeu, who was the owner of the club at the time. After that, the president asked for a detailed report regarding the player’s business and in Barcelona they even talked about the possibility of imposing sanctions on the player, but in the end they gave up.
The contract in question, offered to Pique during that season, was for five years with a whopping €142 million gross. No less than 28.4 million euros gross per season, an amount that could also grow due to certain bonuses. According to reports, Pique approached Bartomeu and told him he wanted to get more than Sergio Ramos and become the highest paid brakeman in the world.
The request was indeed approved and in the end he received about 15 million euros net per season compared to 12.5 million euros that the Real Madrid stopper received at the same time. The club also included what it called a “tax bonus”, in case taxes in Spain rise, amounting to 7.1 million euros.
In the end, with the outbreak of the Corona and the major financial problems of the club, Pika was one of the players in the team who agreed to cut his salary, but he did so in exchange for extending his contract at the club while receiving huge sums.