Barcelona defender Sergi Roberto has decried his meager pay at Barcelona after the club imposed salary cuts.
The Spaniard disclosed that his wage is now at par with a youth team player following the cut.
Sergi Roberto extended his Barcelona contract by a year last summer but has to agree to a salary cut imposed on Barcelona following a post-covid financial crisis.
His last contract was set to expire at the end of the current 2022/23 football season. Barcelona was keen on retaining the Spaniard at the club. Hence, they had to trigger a contract extension clause to stem off interest from potential suitors in the last transfer window.
Now, Sergi Roberto has only six months remaining on his previous contract and will be free to enter into contract talks with other clubs in the next transfer window.
The Catalans bought time with the contract extension to negotiate a better long-term deal with the highly-rated defender.
However, the one-year contract extension came at the peril of the 30-year-old. Speaking in an interview with RAC1, Sergi Roberto said that the club is yet to open talks over a new contract after he extended his contract by a year to stay at the club, and he had to accept a salary cut to broker the one-year contract extension deal.
However, Segi Roberto admitted he agreed to the salary cut with optimism.
“Right now I’m getting paid as if I had moved up from Barca B, but I do it with pride because I want to be here. For me the economic issue is not important”, he said.
On a potential contract renewal, Sergi Roberto admitted he is yet to negotiate with the club on contract renewal after the one-year extension, which expires in 6 months.
He also admitted the Camp Nou club is interested in keeping him, and he wants to stay at the club as well.
“We haven’t started talking [about a new contract] yet, but my idea is to stay. From what the coaching staff have told me, they are very happy with me and want me to stay”, he said.
“I would be very excited to be able to continue, to be able to enjoy myself on the pitch with the Barca shirt.”
Barcelona has been battling a financial crisis at Camp Nou, forcing the club to crave the indulgence of some players to take salary cuts. They could open negotiations with Roberto over the next few weeks, with Frenkie de Jong now said to be indispensable.
It is also claimed any attempts to reduce the Dutchman’s wages have been shelved.
De Jong’s position at Barcelona had for long appeared unstable with a row over his wages making headlines earlier this season.
But it now appears tensions have cooled and the 25-year-old has become a key part of Xavi’s side.
Having crashed out of the Champions League, Barcelona are on top of their game in La Liga. They are currently top of the La Liga table with 37 points after 14 games and are two points clear of arch-rivals Real Madrid.
They will host Espanyol in a heated city derby in their next clash, while Real Madrid travels to take on Real Valladolid.
