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Published 15:26 10 Aug 2021 BST

Jaume Llopis - a former member of the Espai Barça commission who recently resigned of the Messi, well, mess - told El Larguero that "The only one who has agreed to reduce his card on his own accord has been Pique. The rest, not one." Turns out Pique is a top bloke and Shakira might be the lucky one.
Of course, there are still some outliers in the squad: Samuel Umtiti - who was booed on his return to the squad - Pjanic and even long-time servant, Jordi Alba, are reported to have rejected their latest contracts and salary reduction. Laporta and the board are said to be considering legal action against those who are still refusing but this pretty much a disaster of their design.
It is believed that Messi was also willing to accept a pay cut of 50 per cent of his astronomical wages but, alas, it wouldn't have made a smidge of difference as Spanish law would not have allowed the Argentine's to half his salary anyway:
https://twitter.com/Millar_Colin/status/1424356442153312262?s=20
So, the moral is, even the Pique's paragon-like virtues (at least in footballing terms) and whether Messi did his best to stay at the club or not, they've been financially nosediving for far too long and who knows how bad it's going to get before the end?
The only people that are going to come out of this looking good are Pique and any other player who had the self-awareness to realise that even a fraction of their incredible pay packet would do. Nevertheless, it might all be for not.
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