Lionel Messi put out a post on Instagram on Monday announcing that he and fellow FC Barcelona players would take a 70-percent pay cut while La Liga was suspended, and would make additional contributions to ensure that club employees retained 100% of their salaries during the crisis.
Messi also seemed to speak out against criticism that players have faced for not making the decision sooner, saying that there was pressure from within the club for the players to sacrifice their own salary, when it was always something they had planned on doing.
(It should be noted: FC Barcelona doesn’t have one billionaire owner like you might find with an American pro sports team. It is owned by a collective of tens of thousands of supporters, who regularly elect a president.)
Here is the post from Messi:
And here is a translation via The Spanish Football podcast:
Leo Messi statement "the time has come to announce that, as well as the 70% reduction in our salaries during the state of alarm, we are going to make contributions too so that club employees can receive 100% of their salaries while this situation lasts" pic.twitter.com/CgJf5wBEGH
— The Spanish Football Podcast (@tsf_podcast) March 30, 2020
It continues:
“Our desire has always been to take a pay cut, because we understand perfectly that this is an exceptional situation. That’s why it has surprised us that within the club people have tried to put us under scrutiny and put pressure on us to do something we were always going to do.
“If the agreement has been delayed a few days, it’s because we were looking for a formula to help the club and also its workers in this difficult time… We didn’t speak until now because our priority was to find real solutions to help the club, but also those most affected.”
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