The biggest issue for Barca was the departure of Messi. Another disaster happened with the new players, the team could not register them.
Issue with the La Liga rules
As you may know, La Liga has had very interesting rules since 2013. There is a certain threshold that the team can’t pay in the salaries. Barcelona brought 3 players this summer as free agents. These signings included Sergio Aguero and Memphis Depay. Team was very optimistic with the rules of the La Liga. Laporta believed that La Liga could change the rules a little bit for Barcelona. The La Liga officials rejected the changes and noted that the rules are always the same for every club or player. That’s what happened with Lionel Messi. The Argentinean player left the club in tears and knew that there could be nothing done in terms of the salaries. Messi even agreed on decreasing the salary by 50% (the maximum by the rules of the Spanish law) but it could not help him. Another issue happened with the two new signings. Memphis Depay and Sergio Aguero could not do anything with their free agency problems.
Pique saved the new signings
The Spanish defender decided to decrease his salary by 50%. It was a big decision for the club. Barcelona after that decrease could register the new players. As of now, Memphis Depay and Sergio Aguero can play in La Liga. There are really strange rules in Spain, especially the rules created by La Liga. That’s why Pique had to think about the team first. Laporta and Koeman are happy with the decision of the defender. He will be the main defender in the team this season. Pique knew that after the departure of Messi, Barca would find it hard to score goals. He did best with the salary decrease to help Barca with the attacking line players.