This week it has emerged that if Ronald Koeman does not have Memphis Depay at Barcelona, it is because of the financial 'fair play': the players' chips are so high that they are above the limit set by UEFA in terms of salary mass in proportion to budget. Obviously, Barcelona tried to lighten that mass through sales and even by giving away players, such as Luis Suárez or Rafinha, but even so they could not remove enough ballast. His two main objectives at the last minute to definitively reduce the salary bill, and thus be able to sign Depay, were closed to an exit. ANDWe are talking about the French Ousmane Dembélé and Samuel Umtiti.
The two players stand in the FC Barcelona high salary area, with a contract of 12 million euros gross each, that makes them the seventh and eighth most expensive player in the squad. The club had made it a priority to lighten the wage bill with the departure of both, or at least one of them. However, Dembélé flatly refused to accept any exit formula, and that the interested club was Manchester UnitedWhile with Umtiti, the club was very early on the idea that it would be impossible to give him a way out, having no formal offer on the table because of his precarious physical condition.
But if there is a player who monopolizes salary mass in Barcelona it is Antoine Griezmann. The former Atlético de Madrid player landed at the club with the world star label and with a multimillionaire contract that placed him only below Leo Messi in terms of salary. The striker is paid annually 45,834,000 euros gross.
Regarding Griezmann, no one at the club questions his professionalism and his sacrifice for the team, but they do They emphasize that with such a high record, it would have to mark the differences, something that today does not doEither because he does not play in his place or because in Barcelona he does not feel as supported as with France or with Atlético. The truth is that Griezmann has not yet given the expected performance and even received a wake-up call, in the last game, from Koeman himself for his repeated failures in front of Sevilla's goal.
But not everything is disappointment in the French clan of Barcelona. Clement Lenglet is being a big surprise for everyone in the club. Much was expected of him when he arrived from Sevilla, but the truth is that he has exceeded all expectations. In addition, his salary, 7,345,000 euros gross, is in the lower-middle zone of the workforce.
In total we are talking about 75 million euros in chips per year, an amount that the club tried to lighten, but that was impossible due to the intransigence of more than one to leave the club, a decision that ultimately frustrated the arrival of the forward claimed by Koeman, Memphis Depay, to Barcelona.