According to Spanish outlet Deportes Cuatro, the Real Madrid squad have decided to reject the club’s plans for a wage cut, with the hierarchy hoping for players to wave off as much as 25% of their salaries.
Cuatro report that Los Blancos are expecting losses of €200m this season, as they continue to be massively impacted by the financial effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
It’s claimed that the club were initially seeking cuts of 10%, but in recent days talk of a 25% cut was mentioned, something that the first-team are simply not willing to sacrifice at this moment in time.
Cuatro add that the squad will continue to negotiate though. The first-team agreed to a 10% cut when the pandemic first swept across the world for the remainder of last season.
This allowed the club to avoid using ERTE to make employees temporarily redundant, a measure that Atletico Madrid and Barcelona made use of.
Cuatro note that the side did forego bonuses for winning La Liga last season and the Spanish Super Cup, with another one of their reports stating that this decision from the first-team players saved €25m.
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It’s added that the club have been working on another salary cut for a few months now, with the side even requiring any players that wish to renew their contracts to take wage cuts as part of new deals.
Considering the manner in which the first-team squad acted last season, we’d be extremely surprised if some cut wasn’t agreed – it just seems that it won’t be for 25%.