Barcelona first team players have refused to take a pay cut proposed by the club during the National State of Emergency in Spain with football suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic.

President Josep Bartomeu tried to convince the players to accept a proposal that, according to various sources, was somewhat more generous than the one made to the professional teams in other sections of the club, such as the basketball side.

The proposal under Spain’s temporary redundancy scheme (known as an ERTE in Spanish "expedientes de regulación temporal de empleo") would see all of the club’s professional teams lose 70 percent of their salaries while they are not playing during the State of Emergency.

However, Bartomeu is considering offering certain “compensations” to first-team players so that their reduction would not exceed 50 percent -- on the grounds that the first team are responsible for generating significantly more income that than the other teams.

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Barcelona will apply temporary redundancy without player consent

While the Barcelona captains have rejected the proposal, the club has decided to exercise its legal right under the State of Emergency to apply the temporary redundancy even without the player’s approval – something which the board considers necessary to mitigate the financial impact of the coronavirus crisis.