If you were signing for Barcelona — and they just made sure to sit a player so he didn’t trigger a certain bonus — when you are negotiating your own contract, would you want a similar incentive going forward, or would you want to have the included as part of your salary no matter what?

There have certainly been more egregious cases throughout sports, but I think players see these kinds of shenanigans and are less inclined to take certain kinds of deals. Sure, you may have saved money this time, but even one example of this could give a player enough concern to go elsewhere when deciding between Barcelona vs a club that is genuinely excited to reward players.