It was the Spanish journalist Lluís Canut of Mundo Deportivo who set the ball rolling on Thursday. He claimed on the Catalan public broadcaster TV3 that he knew how much the Barcelona players earned annually: Piqué (28 million euros gross), Sergio Busquets (23 million euros), Jordi Alba and Samuel Umtiti (20 million euros), Marc-André ter Stegen (14 million euros), Ousmane Dembele and Sergi Roberto (12 million euros).
Big earner Piqué reacted very angrily on Friday evening and promptly threw his December 30 bank statement on his social media. It reads on it the amount of ‘2,328,884.39 euros – salary’. “People like this who are paid by the public broadcaster to defend their friends… Here you have 50 percent of my salary, received on December 30th. Respect yourself a little bit,” Piqué wrote.
2.3 million euros net, so 4.6 million euros net in total. Because the Barcelona players get their wages paid every six months. A hefty amount, but far from the 28 million euros gross that Canut had thrown on the table. Barcelona had previously denied the Spanish journalist’s coverage.