Valencia offers Gayà a contract worth six times less than current deal

Valencia have tabled a contract extension proposal for José Luis Gayà that has left the player and his entourage stunned. According to MARCA, the club is offering the captain a two-year renewal at one million euros gross annually—an 83% pay cut from the six million he currently earns.

The proposal also includes a clause to defer this season's salary over three years, a move designed to ease the club's financial fair play constraints. However, Gayà's representatives have made clear this does not even qualify as a formal offer: they are simply rejecting it outright.

The blow that stings

Gayà's contract expires in June and he was willing to accept a pay reduction to stay at the club where he is captain and a key figure. But the gap between what he expected and what has been offered is vast. The sense around the club is that Valencia, under Corberán's watch, has little appetite to keep the left-back, something that risks creating an uncomfortable situation just four days before the season kicks off.

This is one of the pressing issues the Valencia board needed to resolve, and so far, the solution they have put forward points more towards a split than a deal.