Olympique Lyonnais president Jean-Michel Aulas said on Wednesday that he asked the team's players to take a 25% pay cut amid the COVID-19 crisis.
In exchange, the players would receive the difference in OL Groupe shares once the pandemic is over, Aulas told a news conference as OL Groupe posted a 50.6-million-euro ($60.90 million) net loss in the first semester of 2020-21.
"I met with the players recently and I proposed... a 25% pay cut above a 50,000 euros floor. In exchange they would recuperate the loss through club shares as we can imagine the stock will go up once the pandemic is behind us," Aulas said.
"The proposition was not met with a lot of enthusiasm but I want to thank the players and the representatives for listening."
OL, who are third in the Ligue 1 standings, are not playing in any European competition this season.
($1 = 0.8308 euros)
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
