Sarunas Jasikevicius reportedly to leave Barcelona

Sarunas Jasikevicius will be leaving his position as coach of Barcelona, as announced by Gerard Romero. The news has also been confirmed by Mundo Deportivo.

The parties reportedly failed to reach an agreement on contract renewal. The Lithuanian coach has just clinched his second ACB championship with the Blaugrana squad.

Lithuanian coach Sarunas Jasikevicius will not continue his tenure at the helm of Barcelona, as negotiations for his contract renewal have reached an impasse. The Blaugrana club had expressed a desire to retain him, but only on the condition that Jasikevicius accepted a significant pay cut, an option that he seemingly did not favor in the end.

In the initial talks following the EuroLeague Final Four, the Lithuanian coach had indicated his willingness to renew the contract even for a much lower sum, and during these early discussions, he informally suggested he was open to continue even with a ten percent cut from his current salary.

However, it appears that the passage of time and the team’s progression to the Endesa League final have led to a shift in Jasikevicius’ stance. Some sources reveal that Barcelona plans to allocate only a maximum of 600,000 euros to the coach who will lead the team next season, a figure significantly lower than the approximate 3.5 million gross euros that Jasikevicius was earning annually.