Wacor Secret Document: Terungkap, Pique Bek Tengah With The Highest Salary In The World

Gerard Pique (Instagram @3gerardpique)

JAKARTA - A leaked document revealed that Gerard Pique was the world's highest-paid centre-back at a time when Barcelona suffered losses.

Earlier this year, it was revealed that Xavi was worried that Pique's business interests would become a disturbance. However, it is now revealed that long before that, Barcelona believed that other interests of Pique actually damaged his reputation.

It returns to the time Pique's company, Kosmos, produced a documentary in which Antoine Griezmann rejected Barcelona's offer to move from Atletico Madrid to Camp Nou a year later.

Then, President Josep Maria Bartomeu decided to open data on Pique because it was clear that his business operations began to show a conflict of interest.

All of this is according to information obtained by El Mundo in what was later known as 'Barcaleaks'.

The Blaugrana considered punishing Pique at the time, but decided that such action was unwise.

Moreover, Pique then received a salary cut to save the club's finances.

Pique's contract with the club at that time was 142 million euros for five seasons (2017/18 to 2021/22). The deal offered him a minimum of 28.4 million euros per season, not including bonuses.

When the contract was negotiated, Pique's request to the club board explicitly became the center-back with the highest pay in the world.

According to sources close to the deal, it is important for Pique to make more money than Sergio Ramos, who was still in Real Madrid uniform at the time.

The contract did meet that wish and Pique then earned 15 million euros per season after tax, more than 12.5 million than Ramos got.

Finally, however, Pique received a salary cut due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.