Years go by, but the devastating legacy of former president Josep Maria Bartomeu still lives on at Camp Nou. Barcelona managed to became champions again, but with or without the title, financial problems remain. In fact, current supremo Juan Laporta is exercising all possible financial gymnastics in order to get out of the mess the club is in. La Liga is also not doing any favors to the Catalans as they set the wage for 2024/25 at 174.4 million pounds, a reduction on the 553.9 they were permitted to spend in February 2023. So, further cuts will be made and the 36-year-old Robert Lewandowski certainly comes to mind. But his agent categorically denied the rumors. ❗Lewandowski will be 36 years old next season and will have a salary of more than €30m gross.— @sport pic.twitter.com/GUbQXdeisS— Barça Universal (@BarcaUniversal) May 11, 2024 The ever-powerful Pini Zahavi spoke to the Polish media and reassured them that his client is not going anywhere. “This is nonsense. He wants to play one more year in Catalonia. He has signed a four-year contract. The last one will depend on his performances in the 2024-2025 season and includes a clause that provides for the possibility of unilateral termination of the contract if Lewy does not play 55% for percent of the minutes” he explained. Cubarsi is not leaving Nou CampSo, what is the problem then? His wage. According to Spanish Sport, the contract that Lewandowski signed two years ago is supposed to increase to 30 million euros next season but Barcelona will try to negotiate the increase in wages of the player as they are set to meet his agent. This is too much for the Catalans, even thou they need offensive players this season. They need to try to trim down Lewa’s wage bill, but if not, maybe a sale will be necessary. Apparently only Gavi, Pedri and Yamal and ‘untouchable’ in the squad, everybody else (captain Ter Stegen included) have a certain price. Lewandowski is the season’s top scorer with 24 goals out of 101 scored, which represents 23.76% of the total. Last season, these figures were even more shocking because Lewandowski, with his 33 goals, reached 32%. Since the 2018-2019 campaign, a team scorer was not so influential in the team’s total scorer, and that season, the team scorer was Lionel Messi. LA LIGA – MATCHDAY 35FridayAlaves – Girona 2-2 (1-2)/Guridi 12, 90+9 – Garcia 4, Herrera 44/SaturdayMallorca – Las Palmas 1-0 (1-0)/Gonzalez 29/Villarreal – Sevilla 3-2 (1-2)/Sorloth 30, 90+7, Mosquera 84 – En Nesyri 26 pen, 44/Granada – Real Madrid 0-4 (0-2)/Garcia 38, Guler 45+2, Diaz 49, 59/Ath.Bilbao – Osasuna 2-2 (0-1)/I.Williams 58, Villalibre 90+6 – Garcia 40, 47/SundayCadiz – Getafe 1-0 (1-0)/Alcaraz 35/Atl.Madrid – Celta 1-0 (0-0)/De Paul 84/Valencia – Rayo Vallecano 0-0Betis – Almeria 3-2 (2-1)/Fornals 8, Isco 28, Perez 64 – Bapristao 45+1, Romero 66/Monday22:00: (1.85) Barcelona (3.70) Sociedad (4.70)***odds are subject to change***
