Barcelona is reportedly ready to drag four of their own players to court if they do not agree to scrap the contracts they signed almost two years ago, Sport reports.
The four players are Frenkie de Jong, Gerard Pique, Clement Lenglet and Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
De Jong, Pique, Lenglet and Ter Stegen all signed new-look contracts in Oct. 2020 which saw them take a wage cut in the short term to help Barcelona’s financial situation.
The deals were the last action of outgoing president Josep Maria Bartomeu’s reign as he left Camp Nou one week later.
The plan was to pay the four players back in the next seasons – a move that came with a total extra salary cost of £263m in the long term.
However, now Barcelona’s current regime – headed by president Joan Laporta – is making the case that there is “evidence of criminality” within the deals signed back in 2020.
Barcelona now wants De Jong, Pique, Lenglet and Ter Stegen involved to give the green light to withdraw those deals and revert back to the contracts they had in place beforehand.
And if they do not agree to do so, Barcelona is willing to go to court.