Martin Braithwaite’s potential move to Mallorca now seems to be in extreme jeopardy as it has emerged that the Denmark international has asked for more salary than what he has been earning at Barcelona.
As reported by Spanish publication Mundo Deportivo (via futbldesdemallorca), the striker’s personal wish is to continue at Barcelona, as he believes he could contribute to a great extent if the likes of Memphis Depay and Pierre-Emerick Aubamyang leave in the coming days.
Barcelona, however, are waiting to receive an offer so that they can sanction the sale and create some room in an already troubled financial structure. For them, the situation is clear; Braithwaite has to leave.
The club that showed the most interest in him is Mallorca, but the fellow La Liga team might as well pull out of the deal due to the striker’s excessive salary demand.
As of today, everyone involved in the process understands Braithwaite needs to play in order to get a place in Denmark’s squad for the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. But for that, he needs to lower his demands as Mallorca just cannot bear the entire payroll.
Hence, if the 31-year-old continues to insist on a higher number, Barcelona might have to pay a better half of his salary; something that they would understandably want to avoid as he is no longer in Xavi’s plan.
This was made evident during the pre-season club friendlies when the manager decided to exclude him from the travelling contingent altogether. But with a valid contract until 2024, the ball is partially in Dane’s court.
And it could be one of the reasons why he is stuck at doing the aforementioned.
For now, it is expected that Braithwaite could arrange a meeting with Mallorca manager Javier Aguirre, with whom he played at Leganes between November 2019 and February 2020. But everything hinges on what he demands he put forward at the end.
