Frenkie de Jong: “They said a lot of things about me, that I don’t want surgery and that I get paid a lot of money. There were numbers like €37M or so but the reality is very far from that. I’m nowhere close to earning that amount. They think I make a lot of money, don’t train but that is not true.”
I mean, to be fair, de jong is the highest earner at Barca. He is cobrando mucho pasta. There’s no getting around that. A lot of players have reduced their pay while the club struggles under the strict financial regulations the league is imposing on them. De jong hasn’t.
Employees are not responsible for employers mismanagement, and the way the club has treated him, he owes them nothing.
I mean, for sure. He’s under no obligation. I was just stating the facts—he is the highest earner, he didn’t lower his salary when most other players have. That’s just what’s happening. He doesn’t need to do anything about that, but that doesn’t change those two things.
If it’s still not close to the amount in the article/post I’m not sure of the relevance.
Well, the 2023/24 season, with bonuses and fixed salary, the reported figure is €27.7M. That’s a ton of money. The last president of the club was signing outrageous contracts, basically putting the club in the financial straits they’re in now. And during this time of absurd contracts/wages, La Liga was basically folding their hands saying go ahead. But now, with a new president, the wages have been slashed across the board, but Frankie is still on his old contract. And with Covid, there were deferments with payment, so that boosts the numbers a little.
All in all, Tebas is a piece of shit, but the last train wreck of a president basically walked hand in hand with tebas, destroying the club. Now that they’re trying to be financially responsible and wipe away the issues, La Liga keeps setting lower and lower thresholds for Barca to meet, while other clubs aren’t getting nearly as low of windows. It’s a shit show. It’s not Frankie’s fault, it’s largely Bartomeu’s fault, but Tebas is also gleefully holding down the club as much as possible. In the midst of all this, it’s nice to see the team turning things around finally. But I also say that as a fan. De jong is under no obligation to reduce his wages. But…it’s also like…the other years of massive amounts of money weren’t enough? And he’s been out injured for months. Eh. It’s just crazy the financial situation at Barca. Again, largely falling on the shoulders of bartomeu. Other players stepped in to help. Frankie didn’t. Those are just facts.
It’s always an interesting question to ask.
Would we be in his position, would we lower our salaries?
Personally, I think I would not. Footballer is a very short career, De Jong is 27. You mentioned injuries, all footballers can basically stop their careers overnight due to a heavy injury.
I’m not saying the amount of money he’s being paid is not enough for generational wealth, but on the other hand, he’s not doing anything illegal.