Barcelona defender offered to play for free to help the club resolve problems of registering the new summer signings.
Veteran defender Gerard Pique has offered to completely forego his salary and play for free as Barcelona struggles to register their new additions in time for the La Liga season opener against Rayo Vallecano this weekend, according to Diario AS.
Barcelona has made five significant signings this summer, but none of them have been able to be registered with La Liga, and the new contracts for Ousmane Dembele and Sergi Roberto have also not been registered.
According to reports, the club won’t be able to successfully register the players in accordance with La Liga’s Financial Fair Play policies, even if they use the fourth economic lever.
Therefore, Barça has spoken with both Gerard Pique and Sergio Busquets about the issue and has once more turned to their captains to negotiate pay cuts, as they did last summer.
According to the report, Pique met with club officials last week to discuss a pay cut and is said to have suggested playing for free to make it easier to get the new recruits registered as soon as possible.
The veteran defender is reportedly ready to sign a new contract that will significantly lower his pay, but it is claimed that Barcelona did not accept such a proposal.
Under Xavi’s direction, Pique is no longer regarded as a starter and may even begin the new campaign as the fifth-choice center back, trailing Ronald Araujo, Jules Kounde, Andreas Christensen, and Eric Garcia.
However, the 35-year-old veteran is driven to succeed and reportedly prepared to go the extra mile for the team both on and off the field.
Barcelona has spoken with the agents of Busquets as well as Pique, who is also willing to lower his salary to assist the team in getting out of its current predicament.
