Luis Suárez stands to lose out on £3 million (~$5m) should he bite another player while at Barcelona.
The La Liga side paid between $104m and $134m -- depending on whether you believe Liverpool or Barcelona’s reporting of the transfer fee involved -- to woo Suárez to Spain. But according to England’s Sunday People, they’re not quite ready to throw caution into the wind just yet.
Suárez stands to make around $342,000 per week, making him the fourth-highest paid player at Barcelona. But that’s only if he reforms his bad boy ways, keeping his mouth tightly closed. The Uruguayan has been banned from all soccer-related activities (except, apparently, signing new contracts after transferring clubs) for four months, after biting Giorgio Chiellini in a World Cup match. The bite was the third time Suárez had sunk his teeth into an opponent, with his first offense a bite on PSV’s Ottman Bakkal, his second on Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanović.
According to reports, the forward’s new contract includes clauses that permit Barcelona to dock between 15 and 30 percent of his wages should he bite once more. There’s no word on whether there’s a “five strikes and you’re out” clause, whereby which Suárez would simply be tossed out of the club should he continue sampling other players.
A 15-30 percent hit on his salary would still leave Suárez making $291,000 - $240,000. That’s per week. Even removing 30 percent of his wages, Suárez will make around $12.5m per year.
Just how much of a punishment is this, anyway?