Barcelona vice-president Eduard Romeu has confirmed that Joao Felix has agreed to an annual salary of just €400,000 (£345,000) in Catalonia.
Felix fell out of favour with parent side Atletico Madrid and spent the second half of last season on loan with Chelsea, who paid a €10m loan fee and covered the Portugal international’s €289,000-a-week salary in its entirety.
Such a financial commitment would have been impossible for Barcelona, whose monetary struggles are no secret, and so Felix recently confirmed he had agreed to give up a “significant amount of money” to make the move.
Romeu has now confirmed the figure, revealing Felix’s weekly salary currently sits closer to €7,700.
“It’s true, Joao Felix has reduced his salary to €400,000 to join,” he told L’Esportiu.
“It is the case of a person who has made a very important effort to join. It’s very nice to see this from a guy who was probably not at his best at his club, but here he has been magnificent.
“Make no mistake about it, however, the club that gave Felix to us has an interest in this being a great showcase. Hopefully, at the end of the year, we will have the conflict of having to consider his continuity.”
Reducing salaries is part of Barcelona’s plan to get their finances under control, with Romeu confirming the La Liga champions still hold debts of €1.2bn.
“There are two types of debt, those measured by La Liga and the global one,” Romeu explained. “La Liga measures bank and club debts, which were €680m in June 2021, €608m in 2022 and €552m in 2023. That’s why [La Liga president Javier] Tebas said we reduced the debt.
“But for us, the debt is much more. When we arrived, the debt was about €1.35bn. Now, we’re just under €1.2bn.
“The ‘levers’ served to cover the drain on our finances and also to wipe out debt, which is my obsession.”
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