Xavi Hernandez doesn’t want to leave anything to chance or any loose ends. He understands that to get the new players on his roster the club needs to get rid of some of the highest-paid players in the current squad.
Among those the club would like to see out is Frenkie de Jong, thanks to the strange salary increase Bartomeu imposed during his presidency. The Dutchman will receive roughly 30 million euros in total, an amount the club considers completely disproportionate, especially when the cap on his new salary scale is 20 million.
Faced with such a situation, AS has learned, Xavi Hernandez decided to take the initiative and speak this week with the midfielder to make his intentions clear.
First of all, Xavi confirmed that he counts on him, that he considers him a valid player in his project, that he can have a long way to go and not just play as a midfielder, and that his intention is to give him more time and a prominent position in other positions, such as, for example, Playing as a centre-back, having played the last two friendlies.
But Xavi also revealed to de Jong the harsh reality: If you want to be a part of this project, you have to make an effort. And that effort goes through cutting his current salary by about half. Only in this way can the Catalan coach ensure that he continues to play for Barcelona.
According to sources inside the locker room, Xavi and Frinke left the meeting satisfied, so everything indicates that the Dutchman has agreed to the condition to reduce his salary to facilitate the registration of new deals because at the moment Barcelona will not have the possibility of registering any new players because he needs to reduce the salary block to match With Financial Fair Play.
In fact, the club plans to activate a third lever in the coming weeks by selling a percentage of Barcelona’s studios, given the prediction that Frenkie will end up staying and the need for increased income to enable a larger wage margin.
The ball is now in the Dutchman’s court. If he wants to continue at Barcelona, he will have to take a step forward, and if he does not finally agree to this condition, Xavi will have to do without him.
Source: AS