Barcelona start negotiations with club captains over further wage cuts
Barça hope Busquets, Alba and Pique will take another hit to their salaries
Sergi Roberto's pay check has already been greatly reduced following his renewal
Barcelona have a lot of issues to urgently sort out if they want to give Xavi Hernandez the bestp possible squad for the 22-23 campaign.
One of those issues is the difficult task of getting the first-team captains to further reduce their salaries to help with the club's financial fair play problems.
The issue has been bubbling in the background in recent weeks while two of the captains, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba, have been asked about it in public while with Spain.
In the case of Busquets, he said it was not ideal that he heard about it in the media and not directly from the club themselves.
Alba was also uncomfortable with the situation, but despite that both captains showed a desire to to help the club where possible, while president Joan Laporta tried to reduce the tension by stating publicly that the captains have already shown themselves willing to make an effort.
In fact, the contract extension of one of the four captains, Sergi Roberto, who renewed until 2023 last week, came with a huge pay cut.
Now the club must speak with Busquets, Alba and Gerard Pique to see what they can do moving forward, with talks planned to take place this week with the players' respective camps.
Barça need exits, wage cuts and much more to be able to sign this summer and strengthen the squad.
