Lionel Messi and Neymar £19m pay-rises to leave Barcelona with financial trouble

Barcelona may break Financial Fair Play and the La Liga salary cap

Neymar and Lionel Messi (GETTY IMAGES)

Pay rises to Lionel Messi and Neymar will add £19million to Barcelona's already massive wage bill next season, according to a report in Spain.

The move could see the Catalan club fall foul of Financial Fair Play and even see president Josep Maria Bartomeu and his board step down.

Newspaper AS claim that Barcelona is now in an extremely delicate position because of the mandatory pay-rises, with Andres Iniesta and Luis Suarez on massive contracts, and Sergio Busquets needing his contract to be renewed.

Messi's annual wage is reported to jump from €22.8m (£17.34m) to €39.4m (£29.97m) and Nemyar from €9.1m (£6.92m) to €17.6m (£13.39m) - the Brazilian is also likely to sign a new deal this summer that will probably take him up to at least €22m (£16.73m).

With La Liga imposing a maximum salary cap of €421m, Barcelona's current wage bill already stands at €419m, before the wage rises - that's 73 per cent of the annual budget, according to AS.

Bartomeu will have to get creative this summer as the board have to stay within set parameters of debt laid out in the club's statues. Having already broken those parameters last year, Bartomeu must lower the ratio of income gained before tax and repayments or be forced to step down.