Barcelona star unwilling to take pay cut to ease club’s financial woes: Reports

Barcelona left-back Jordi Alba is unwilling to take a pay cut to ease the club's financial troubles this summer, according to Spanish outlet El Nacional. The Catalan giants have spent north of €150 million on signings this summer.

After initial struggling, Barca recently managed to register Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha, Franck Kessie, and Andreas Christensen for the new season. However, Jules Kounde's registration is still pending.

The Frenchman was absent from manager Xavi Hernandez's matchday squad that drew 0-0 against Rayo Vallecano on Saturday (August 13). Barca can free up funds to register Kounde if some of their players take a pay cut or leave the club.

Miralem Pjanic and Gerard Pique have already complied with the club's demands to reduce their salaries while Sergio Busquets is next in line to do so. However, Alba is refusing to lower his wages and is said to be angered by the potential arrival of Marcos Alonso from Chelsea.

The Spaniard has been a regular starter for the Blaugrana since returning to Camp Nou in the summer of 2012 from Valencia. In the past decade, Alba has scored 25 goals and provided 93 assists in 430 games across all competitions for Barca.

Alonso is surplus to requirements at Stamford Bridge after manager Thomas Tuchel signed Marc Cucurella from Brighton & Hove Albion. The left-back's imminent arrival at Camp Nou has made Alba insecure about his chances of being a regular starter.

Alba wants to be part of Spain's squad for the FIFA World Cup in November and doesn't want the opportunity taken from him due to reduced appearances at club level.

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Is Jordi Alba right not to take a pay cut at Barcelona?

Alba refusing to lower his salary could hamper Barcelona's ambitions to sign Alonso. However, it would be unfair to criticize the player if Barce fail to sign or register the Chelsea left-back.

It is worth mentioning that Barcelona are a club ready to take three of their own players - Frenkie de Jong, Clement Lenglet, and Marc-Andre Ter Stegen - to court.

The club believe the contract extensions of these players in January 2020 were illegal and have refused to pay £17 million in deferred wages to De Jong.