Barça don't deserve Gerard Pique.
Barcelona have finally
announced that they have registered new signings Memphis Depay, Eric Garcia and Rey Manaj to their squad after weeks of uncertainty due to the club's financial state.
The club have so much dead weight eating into their wage budget that they were unable to retain the services of Lionel Messi because of La Liga's financial regulations, which prevented him from being registered, and ended with their greatest ever player moving to Paris Saint-Germain on a free.
Even with Messi gone, they remained unable to register Memphis, Garcia and Manaj - not to mention
Sergio Aguero who still isn't registered due to injury - until now, thanks to the generosity of Gerard Piqué.
True to his character, Piqué put the club's needs above his own and agreed to take a "substantial" pay cut in order to facilitate the registration of the new players.
"FC Barcelona is able to register
Memphis,
Eric Garcia and
Rey Manaj to play in the Spanish Liga de Futbol Profesional. This has been made possible thanks to an agreement with
Gerard Piqué whereby the Barça second captain’s salary has been substantially reduced," the club's statement read.
Consequently, the new recruits will be able to play in Barcelona's opening La Liga game against Real Sociedad on Sunday night.
Barcelona also confirmed that they are working with the club's other captains, Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets, to arrange an adjustment to their salaries in order to alleviate some of the club's financial troubles.
Both players are said to be "totally and utterly willing to cooperate."
