Barcelona plan to renegotiate contracts of key duo, salary reduction necessary

Barcelona are in immediate need of reducing the overall cost of the workforce if they are to sign new players in the summer. La Liga has already instructed them to reduce the salary mass by €200 million, which could be a major challenge.

Barcelona have already started their operation to lower the cost of the team. According to Mundo Deportivo, one of their strategies will be to sit down with Frenkie de Jong and Marc-Andre ter Stegen and propose a new offer.

The club’s plan is to reduce the salaries of these two stars so that they can save some amount of money. Barcelona had approached the two of them during the pandemic, asking them to lower their salary. In exchange, the club offered them a longer contract.

Barcelona are planning a similar move this time around. The Catalans would table a lowered salary to both the stars, who have established themselves almost indispensable in Xavi’s setup, going into the new season.

Ter Stegen’s current contract expires in 2025, whereas de Jong’s deal expires in 2026. Should they agree to lower their salaries, the club may extend their deals to two or three more years.

Although this would result in the two players pocketing a lower salary on a year-on-year basis, they could earn more in the long-run due to the extended length of the contracts. Barcelona’s strategy also indicates the trust put in the two players, who have performed extremely well since the start of the season.

Neither of the two players appears to have any desire to leave Camp Nou anytime soon, so the strategy might just work. However, it must be noted that Barça failed with a similar strategy when they approached both Sergio Busquets and Gerard Pique.

Busquets refused as he was not sure about his continuity at Barça, whereas Pique announced a sudden retirement at the end of last year. But with de Jong and ter Stegen being comparatively youngster, they could consider a salary cut in order to help themselves and Barcelona in the process.