Barcelona have begun a process to reduce the pay of players, coaches and non-sporting staff to adapt to the huge losses suffered due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a club source said on Wednesday. 

Staff have been notified by the club of the need to reduce costs after posting a loss of 97 million euros ($113.98 million) in their annual financial report, released on Monday. 

The employees, including players, have been asked to nominate a representative over the next two weeks to represent them in the negotiations over the changes to their salaries, added the source. 

Like every major sporting competition, La Liga faced huge disruption due to the Covid-19 pandemic, pausing for three months mid-season before completing the final rounds of fixtures without fans which hit income from ticket sales and merchandise. 

Barca's accounts on Wednesday made for grim reading, showing a 14 percent drop in revenue from the previous year and the doubling of their net debt to 488 million euros. 

The club enacted a temporary pay cut of 70 percent at the end of March in the height of the pandemic, lasting the duration of Spain's national state of alarm, which ended in June. 

Barca's financial troubles also led them to spend the close season lightening the biggest wage bill in European football, offloading Luis Suarez, Ivan Rakitic and Arturo Vidal for next to nothing, while selling Arthur Melo for 72 million euros and Nelson Semedo for 30 million. 

They only brought in three players, Miralem Pjanic, Francisco Trincao and Sergino Dest for a combined 112 million euros. 

They failed to make any extra additions before the transfer window shut on Monday, despite showing interest in Manchester City defender Eric Garcia and Olympique Lyonnais forward Memphis Depay. 

Meanwhile, Spanish club Valencia did not sign any players in the transfer window due to a 100 million euros fall in revenue as a result of the coronavirus, despite letting eight key squad members leave in the close season. 

(With input from Reuters)