Press reports revealed that Spanish club Barcelona has completed the payment of overdue salaries to a number of its former players, most notably Argentine Lionel Messi, the club's legend and current Inter Miami star. These salaries date back to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Under Josep Maria Bartomeu's presidency, the Catalan club faced a stifling financial crisis, forcing it to request a salary deferral for its players. This was due to declining revenues due to the pandemic and the club's inability to afford the huge contracts signed at the time.
Messi left for Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer in the summer of 2021. The Argentine wanted to stay at Barcelona, but the club was unable to keep him due to debts exceeding one billion euros.
The Gerard Piqué case posed a crisis at the time, with the Spanish press revealing that Barcelona owed him approximately €50 million as a result of his salary being deferred during the pandemic. Although he later received a portion of the sum, Piqué decided to retire mid-season and forgo a significant portion of his dues.
Pique wasn't the only player, as Barcelona was required to pay the dues of other players, such as Samuel Umtiti, who was receiving a whopping salary of €20 million per year, in addition to Coutinho, Messi, and others.
Spanish newspaper Sport reported on Saturday that Barcelona had completed the payment of all these dues in recent days.
Barcelona paid approximately €16 million to settle these back salaries, including the dues of 20 first-team players, nine of the highest-paid reserve team players, and former coach Ronald Koeman and three of his assistants.
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