Barcelona ‘prepare for court with De Jong, Pique, Ter Stegen and Lenglet’

BARCELONA are reportedly preparing for a court battle with four of their OWN PLAYERS if they do not agree to scrap the contracts they signed nearly two years ago.

Frenkie de Jong, Gerard Pique, Clement Lenglet and Marc-Andre ter Stegen penned new-look contracts in October 2020 which saw them take a wage cut in the short-term to help the club's financial situation.

The deals were the final action of outgoing president Josep Maria Bartomeu's reign as he departed one week later.

The plan was to pay the players back in the following seasons - a move that came with a total extra salary cost of £263million in the long term.

But now Barca's current regime - headed by president Joan Laporta - is making the case that there is "evidence of criminality" within the deals signed in 2020.

The club want the four players involved to give the green light to annul those deals and revert back to the contracts they had in place beforehand.

If the individuals do not agree to do so, Sport are reporting that Barca are willing to go to court.

The plan would be to allege the contracts written up by the previous directors are not valid.

Barca are said to have been preparing for a court battle for three months.

Pique's contract extension was until 2024, Ter Stegen's until 2025, while De Jong and Lenglet furthered their deals until 2026.

De Jong is reportedly owed £14.5m in wages by Barcelona - a factor which has contributed to holding up his move to Manchester United.

He understandably feels he is owed the money as he agreed to wage reductions for the 2020/21 and 2021/22 campaigns with the knowledge that they would be supplemented in the following four seasons.

Laporta claimed last week that both De Jong and Barca are now keen for him to stay at the Nou Camp.

Pique and Ter Stegen remain part of Xavi's squad - although there are reports that Pique has been told he is surplus to requirements.

Lenglet has been sent out on loan to Tottenham for the 2022/23 season.