Arsenal football club, its players and coaches set a standard in the Premier League as the first in the league to successfully agree on a pay cut amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Arsenal‘s players led by their coach Mikel Arteta accepted a 12.5 per cent pay cut on their weekly wages in order to help the club remain afloat since the pandemic has halted football and the club’s primary means of generating revenue, matchdays.
However, the club’s negotiations with the players did not completely turn out the way the club anticipated as its highest-paid player, Mesut Ozil, and two others who have not been identified refused to accept the pay cut.
Mesut Ozil earns 350,000 pounds per-week wages, £150,000 more than the captain and the highest goals scorer of the senior team Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Though the German player said he would reconsider his decision when it is clear that the coronavirus pandemic has a negative impact on the finances of the club, yet notable pundits in the United Kingdom have been criticising him for not following the footsteps of his teammates.
Top 10 Arsenal Earners
If Ozil finally accepts to take the 12.5 per cent pay cut on his wages, the 31-year-old Arsenal midfielder will still earn over £300,000, way above the club’s captain and everyone else. That is, his new wage until March 2021 would be £306,250 per week.
While the club’s captain, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who happens to be the second-highest-paid player at the club, would earn £175,000 per week from £200,000.
Alexandre Lacazette who has been the third highest-paid player at the club since he joined the Premier League side in 2017, would earn £159,250 per week from £182,063.
Arsenal‘s record signing Nicolas Pepe who joined the club in 2019 for a whopping £72 million, would earn £122,500 instead of £140,000.
One of the elders of the club, David Luiz who have been earning £125,673 per week, would now settle for £109,964 until March 2021. While Hector Bellerin would settle for £96,250 per week from £110,000.
More so, Sead Kolasinac, Bernd Leno, and Arsenal’s former captain Granit Xhaka would all settle for £87,500 from £100,000 per week. Sokratis would make do with £80,500 from £92,000.
The club has promised that it would refund the agreed percentage to the players and coaches if a certain target is met at the end of the interrupted 2019-2020 football season.
