Gerard Pique publicly shared a bank statement to show what an elite footballer's pay slip looks like

Gerard Pique once shared his wages on social media in response to claims he was earning a staggering £450,000-per-week at Barcelona.

In January 2020, he was one of three players whose wages were leaked by Spanish TV3 programme Onze.

But Pique ruthlessly dismissed the idea he was on mega bucks during his time at the Camp Nou.

He shared a bank statement on X, formerly Twitter, revealing half his annual pay - £2 million.

So, his pay slip means that for the year of 2021 he received £4 million, which works out as roughly £75,000-per-week.

Image: X/Gerard Pique

Pique didn't just post his pay slip but also a caption as he took aim at Spanish journalist Lluis Canut, who claimed he was earning a massive £11.7 for just one season.

"Characters like this charging public television to defend their friends," he wrote. "Here is 50% of my payroll collected on December 30th. Have some respect for yourself."

Canut also made the same claim about Pique's then-Barca teammates Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba.

And Barca joined Pique in hitting out at the reports as they released a statement denying the claims.

A club statement reads: "In relation to the manifestations of Mr. Lluís Canut carried out yesterday in the program 'Onze' of TV3, FC Barcelona wants to clarify the following:

"1. The information on the salaries of certain first team players has not, in any case, been provided by the Club and its origin is unknown.

"2. In any case, the amounts referred to in the information are erroneous, do not conform to reality and, furthermore, in the case of the first three players referred to, it gives as fixed amounts that, being variable, will possibly never be reached. to merit.

"3. It is false that the aforementioned players have only deferred 100% of their salary. Messrs. Piqué, Busquets and Alba gave up part of their salary when they signed the last contract renewal last summer.

"We consider it inappropriate, unprofessional and that it has acted in bad faith when this information is offered as true and truthful and we regret that data of this type is provided that affects the personal rights of the players and that deserves, when they are true, the highest confidentiality."