Barcelona Risk Allowing Players to Terminate Contracts With Latest Pay Deferral Proposal

Barcelona players may be able to terminate their contracts if the club change the terms of their deals without their approval.

With Barcelona looking to cut costs in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, players have been urged to agree to wage deferrals which would give the club more time to pay each player's full salary - an idea which has been met with fierce resistance from the squad.

The matter has been left with Barcelona's lawyers, who hope to find an agreement over this payment plan. However, Sport note that the club must proceed with caution as any change to a player's contract which is not pre-approved would give that player justification to terminate their contract for free.

The letter sent by the club initially stated that players had until November 6 at the latest to agree to these deferrals or they would be simply introduced anyway, but that may lead to players protesting and terminating their contracts.

Club officials will meet on Wednesday to discuss the next step, but there will be no representative for the players as the squad are said to be livid with how Barcelona have approached this.

The players are frustrated bu the fact that they received a letter simply stating there would be changes to their pay, with most admitting that a friendly conversation about the club's financial situation would have probably been enough to convince the squad to agree.

Furthermore, the squad are reluctant to deal with president Josep Maria Bartomeu and CEO Òscar Grau, who they no longer view as legitimate representatives of the club.

It's not only the players who have been left frustrated. Barcelona had attempted to force the club's non-playing staff to accept these pay deferrals, despite that group of 540 workers making up just 3% of the club's expenses.

Players were left stunned to see that these non-playing staff could be penalised when their earnings are so much smaller than the players, whose wages make up closer to 70% of the outgoings. The workers earn a combined €35m per year, whereas Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann make more than that alone.

Barcelona are still looking for an amicable agreement, but as far as the players are concerned, the chance for that has long gone.

For more from ​Tom Gott, follow him on ​Twitter!