Atletico Madrid players take 70 per cent pay cut to help pay salaries of 430 club employees

Atletico Madrid players will take a 70 per cent pay cut in order to help pay the salaries of 430 club employees.

Atletico’s men’s and women’s first teams, plus Atletico Madrid B and related coaches, have signed an internal agreement with the club.

A statement from Atletico’s official website confirmed the agreement defined two different scenarios depending on the decisions made on either completing or cancelling the 2019-20 season.

The statement read: “The cessation of activity that has meant the declaration of the state of emergency in Spain as a result of the Covid-19 health crisis, has caused Atletico Madrid to have to study measures to safeguard the club's economic viability.

“Due to this complicated situation, and always with the aim of guaranteeing the entity's future, the club has made the decision to present a Temporary Employment Regulation File (ERTE).

“From the outset, the club's objective in studying possible measures to deal with this delicate situation has been to minimize its effect on the salaries of its employees as much as possible. The agreement reached with the first team will also allow supplementing the salary of 430 employees affected by the ERTE.

“To make this possible, the first team squad will contribute half the necessary amount and the members of the club's management committee, made up of the CEO and the directors of the different areas, the other half.”

Atletico are following the lead of Barcelona, who announced at the beginning of the week that their players would also be taking a 70% pay cut in order to ease the financial burden on the club.

The Spanish giants’ actions are proving much more popular than some in the Premier League, where Tottenham have faced a significant backlash after chairman Daniel Levy defended the club’s decision to impose a 20% on the salaries of 550 non-playing staff members .

Spurs’ owner, 83-year-old billionaire Joe Lewis, is reported to have a net worth of over £4.3 billion.

Manchester City, meanwhile, have also been widely criticised after continuing to take direct debit payments from season ticket holders for games which may now not go ahead.