Barcelona finds criminality in player contracts, activates fourth lever | OneFootball

Barcelona’s legal team has found ‘clear indications of criminality’ in four contracts signed under the Josep Bartomeu administration, according to SER.

The contracts belong to Marc-Andre Ter Stegen, Gerard Pique, Clement Lenglet and Frenkie de Jong.

Barcelona is deep in financial trouble and unable to register their new signings. They are searching for ways to make players leave or accept pay reductions.

Their prime target is De Jong – the highest earner at the club. Barcelona are trying to get the player to reduce his salary or leave. Unfortunately, the 25-year-old wants to stay.

De Jong has rejected offers from Manchester United and Chelsea. Barcelona have now told De Jong to return to the terms he was on before October 2020.

The Dutchman extended his contract with Barca until 2026. He reduced his salary for the last two seasons by around €17 million.

The payment would be distributed over the following four seasons, but the club are trying to avoid paying the deferred wages.

It is unclear if Barcelona will actually pursue legal action against their own players. However, their messy situation continues to get dirtier.

Barcelona has pulled a fourth financial lever by selling 25% of Barca Studios (via SER). This will generate another €100m.

It is the figure paid by Socios.com for the other 25% of the company. This was sold to the North American investment fund GDA Luma. The company is owned by the president of Cirque du Soleil, Gabriel de Alba.

Barcelona had to pull the lever after La Liga refused to accept all asset sales operations carried out this summer to obtain €768m.

La Liga refused to accept the investment of €157m made to the company Locksley Invest shared with Sixth Street – the fund that bought 25% of the television rights – as income.

Even after receiving these funds, the club will still need to sell players or get them to reduce their salaries. The club is speaking with Sergio Busquets and Pique about taking another pay cut.

Barcelona’s finances and the steps they are taking to remedy the situation remains one of the primary discussions this summer.

They may now have to take legal action against their players to be able to register their new signings.