Yesterday started with Nikola Mirotic as Barça’s main appeal at the presentation of the Endesa League final, an event he ultimately did not go to, and ended with the Balkan player virtually out of the club next season . Today, the Barcelona team will begin their assault on the league title at the Palau Blaugrana against Real Madrid (9 p.m.) with the star in the spotlight, not for his sporting virtues but for his future. The Montenegrin’s situation at the Catalan club went into a tailspin when TV3 reported that the management had decided to end the winger-pivot’s stage with the termination of the contract, which was still two years old, due to the salary , the highest in the squad and in all of European basketball. Barça intends to reduce the budget of the section by 25% and the current salary of the Balkan player has no place.
The player later confirmed, in an interview for Mundo Deportivo, that they do not include him in the coming campaign. “I would have liked it to have been passed on to me in a different way, at another time, with other people, maybe from higher up”, said a Mirotic who “at no time” was offered a pay cut . “Why don’t we sit down? Why don’t we listen to each other? Why don’t we see how we can help each other? I am very happy in Barcelona and so is my family. Where will I be better?”, lamented the one from Podgorica, who three years ago already adapted to the emoluments when the pandemic reduced Barça’s income.
However, the winger’s words differ from Barça’s version, which is upset with the Montenegrin for blowing up the situation a day before the final. The club defends that they offered him the salary reduction, but the answer was negative. The negotiations, which will probably end with the termination of the contract, began in Kaunas, immediately after the painful elimination against Real Madrid in the semi-final of the Euroleague.
The disagreement between the parties stems from an economic issue, but it has also affected the player’s poor performance at the crucial moment of the season against the whites, with only three points and a basket of 10 shots in 28 minutes. The match has weighed like a slab on the future of a Mirotic who arrived in 2019 with the aim of bringing the third Euroleague to the museum’s showcases, and as the team’s leader he has failed in all three assault attempts on the European throne, always eliminated in the final four.
The Montenegrin will have the opportunity to recover and add another league title to the Blaugrana’s record (one League and two Cups). “This comes out today (yesterday), but we have been talking about it from the inside for a long time. His response on the court has been incredible. He is focused on what he has to do. We saw his total delivery against Unicaja and Valencia. He knows how to differentiate”, defended the Barcelona coach, Sarunas Jasikevicius, who is still his disciple at the presentation of an ACB final which, unless there is a surprise, will be Mirotic’s bittersweet epilogue to Barcelona “I want people to know that I will live my last matches with Barça”, said the winger-pivot.
