The content of the letter sent to President Josep Maria Bartomeu on behalf of the Barcelona selection has been leaked. In the letter, the four Barcelona leaders expressed their dissatisfaction with the club management’s proposals to cut players’ salaries. Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets, Sergi Roberto and Gerard Piqué express their frustration about the club management’s way of acting in the letter sent on Sunday.

Barcelona reportedly wants to cut all salaries at the club by 30 percent. The players are predominantly against this, although Frenkie de Jong, Marc-André ter Stegen and Clément Lenglet refused to sign another letter earlier this month in which that point of view was made clear. The letter now drafted by Messi, Busquets, Roberto and Piqué expresses the players’ displeasure with the way Barcelona wants to enforce salary cuts. They claim according to El Mundo on Spanish labor law, which would stipulate that such issues should be mutually agreed and not forced from above.

The club management has proposed to put together a council to deal with the salary issue, but the players are not impressed by the proposal to include only one delegate from the selection in the 13-member council. In the letter Messi, Sergi Roberto, Piqué and Busquets write that they “will not tolerate” their “rights being violated.” The way the club has tried to enforce salary cuts has been called ‘shameful’. In another part of the letter, the captains speak of their “displeasure and great disappointment” about the actions of the club management, which is done “without any legal grounds” and “without consulting the selection”.

Barcelona announced on Tuesday evening that De Jong (until mid-2026), Piqué (2024), Ter Stegen (2025) and Lenglet (2026) have extended their contracts. The contract extensions are part of Barcelona’s plan to deal with the financial consequences of the corona crisis. The players who have signed will first hand in their wages, after which their salaries will increase in the coming years. By signing up players for longer, they are actually compensated for the short-term surrendered pay.

The four contract extensions have reportedly gone down the wrong way with many Barcelona players, because the relevant letter was sent on Sunday. Although Piqué also extended his contract, he also signed the letter sent on behalf of the four leaders of the club to the board led by chairman Bartomeu.