La Liga giants Barcelona’s 2020 crisis continues as seven first-team players including star-attacker Lionel Messi have reportedly rejected the chance to extend their deals.
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The once great Catalonian club appear to be a shadow of their former-selves after the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic induced a summer of turmoil which almost led to world-class attacker Messi departing the club he has spent his entire career with.
The story of the summer was centred around the chaos seemingly going on behind the scenes at Barcelona as Messi attempted to force a move away to team-up with former manager Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.
However, during an exclusive interview with Goal the 33-year-old attacker confirmed he would be staying with Barcelona for at least one more season but reiterated that he was unhappy.
The latest in the ongoing saga coming out of Spain comes from Friday’s written edition of Mundo Deportivo (via Sports Witness) who claim that seven of Barcelona’s first-team players have refused to extend their current deals.
Mundo Deportivo’s report claims that Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets, Sergi Roberto, Jordi Alba, Philippe Coutinho, Ousmane Dembele and Antoine Griezmann have all rejected to extend their current deals which include 30 – 50% pay-cuts.
It is also understood that Josep Maria Orobitg, the intermediary who represents Roberto and Busquets has pulled the plug on negotiations despite Barcelona desperately trying to find a solution.
However, despite the overall unhappiness at the Camp Nou, Mundo Deportivo’s report does claim that Marc-André ter Stegen, Gerard Pique, Frenkie de Jong and Clement Lenglet have all recently renewed their current deals.