Arsene Wenger says he’s always fought to help his players earn the money they deserve but believes today’s top players are so well remunerated that they should look beyond their bank balance when negotiating new contracts.
Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez, Arsenal’s two biggest earners, are understood to be pushing for substantial wage increases before committing their respective futures to the club, leaving Wenger to joke on Saturday that he needs a ‘good bank’ to nail down his German playmaker.
“I think these kind of players, they can raise a little bit above the financial aspect of the game because they are not poor and they have to look really on the football side,” he told press on Tuesday ahead of the Champions League clash with Ludogorets
“Do the club meet their needs on the football front? If ‘yes’ then a Premier League club can find an agreement with the players. We still keep values we have at the club: we pay what we can afford.
“We have still a scale of wages. It has become a bit more individual than when I arrived 20 years ago because every case is a bit special. It has changed a little bit, but anyway you don’t need to worry, they are all paid well.”
Asked whether a culture of chasing cash was a worrying development, Wenger made clear that he doesn’t attribute guilt to the players even though wage inflation is inevitable and the regularity of negotiations increases.
“I blame nobody. If you were a player, you would try the same. You try to earn as much as you can. Honestly, my whole life I fight to get the players paid as much as I can. I want as well to be responsible, to pay them the money you can afford to pay. They have to feel that you meet their needs at the club and they get paid for it. Ideally, we don’t go into the final year, but that is why we negotiate before.”
“Basically when you sign a contract for four years, you sign for two,” said the Frenchman, who is committed to Arsenal only until the end of the season. “Because of the simple fact that just to keep the value of the player, you have to extend the contract. It is a little bit illogical because that means that it is inflationary, because never you extend a contract to offer less money.
“That means the status of a football player creates inflation inside the clubs, just because of the commercial value.
“I find that when you start a contract you agree to commit for the length of the contract for the money you have signed for. But that is basically not the case [here]. Personally, in my life, I’ve never looked too much at what the others earn and never renegotiated a contract when I’ve signed.”
These guys should help Arsenal win the league and then talk.
As much as I agree with what Arsene is saying, and I know a lot of Arsenal fans including myself wont like to admit this but, to a degree that’s exactly what they are doing, i.e. putting football first, if they decided to leave Arsenal this summer if we have another poor campaign and don’t win anything this season. I love Ozil especially, I really do. I love turning up to watch him play, he is the archetype player of the Wenger era, so I can only imagine how much Wenger loves having him as a player. However, I also… Read more »
This isn’t going to end well, is it?
Yeah this screams of us not willing to offer what they want. Wenger’s message seems to be aimed directly at them and says “Ignore your money-grabbing agents and sign because you love the club/style of football/me”.
I’m guessing the club and the players/agents are far apart at the moment. Very worrying.
Kroenke’s consultancy fee should be enough to cover the difference right?
How I wish it was us fans who owned the club.
Please keep this in mind in case you meet a genie and have a spare wish.
We don’t know what exactly they’re asking for but to pay them 10-15million (200-300k a week) a contract each is a whole lot of money. I think we should wait until end of season and see if they can perform consistently throughout the season. If they do, pay them and sign da ting!
Football hasn’t caught up to American sports yet in terms of contracts, but in America the money they’re asking for isn’t even that much. Baseball players that can’t be considered “stars” by any stretch earn more money per year than this. Like it’s embarrassing if Arsenal can’t pay these players £15M per year. We should be able to afford twice that without batting an eye.
We’re talking about the actual best number 10 in the world. The literal best CAM and you can’t give him £15M per year? Meanwhile Giancarlo Stanton (who isn’t even the best baseball player) signed a 13 year $325,000,000 contract ($25,000,000 per season) (£20.3M at time of commenting) or Zack Greinke who is good but not far and away the best making over $34M per season (£27.68) it’s time for the English football league (who is now to reach even to be sponsored) to step up and start paying the players what they’re worth.
Apples and oranges don’t just come to mind, they smash me in the face.
Bill gates makes billions each year and he’s not even the best operating system. Therefore ozil should get 500 bazillion a year and Arsenal shouldn’t bat an eyelid. What an embarrassment Arsenal are.
im starting to get worried now, its like wenger pleading to them to stay.
Although it makes me cringe nervously, he’s just trying to appeal to common sense and decency in the players. I couldn’t care less how far apart the agents are from the club if the players are sensible. Somebody has to appeal against the agents’ boundless, parasitic greed because you know they’re saying ‘but Pogba gets this’ and ‘Aguero gets that’.
It would be absolutely foolish to go in and let the players’ agents decide the amount without pushing back.
Sounds like the same argument we made to Cashley Cole.
Arsenal needs to decide on weather they want big stars or raise youngsters and sell them like Ajax. Pay the fucking money, after firm negotiations of course, I say
If they do sign it’ll be a great message to the rest of the squad that they belive they can achieve great things.
If they don’t will the other players want to stick around?
Of course if they do sign it will also be a message to the rest of the squad that the bar has been raised on wages and more requests will follow.
I’m not sure why our contract dealings seem to put us in the begging position every time.
Any time you let them get into the final 2 years, it’s akin to bending over a barrel and having your pants rolled down slightly more each month.
Why do we always let this happen? Surely we should have learnt by now?
I detest Daniel Levy but at least he always holds the cards when it comes to contracts as he ties really long term contracts to his best players early.
“I detest Daniel Levy but at least he always holds the cards when it comes to contracts as he ties really long term contracts to his best players early.”
But that’s easier to do with lesser quality players. And I’m not just saying it to have a dig at them, that part is just a convenient coincidence. They have nobody that can compare to these two.
They had Bale and Modric, both done all they could to get out!
Excellent point.
exactly , till a few years ago levy only paid those kind of players peanuts . thus every good player they have left them bale , modric , van der varth, berbatov.
right now they’ve changed their ways and started to pay them more . but its still less than arsenal because they are not buying big players. many of thier playes are english and others are bought from tier 2 or 3 clubs . on the other hand we bought ozil and sanchez from madrid and barca , and players like that expect to be paid big.
And Hugo Lloris
I’ll give you that Levy is a good negotiator, but it’s not as if we’ve let it go to the wire here as with Gnabry/Cazorla. Just how often do you think contracts should be renewed, a new 5 year deal every season? Then you are essentially forced to give your players a raise each year. I will say that if there’s one thing Arsenal should change re: transfer policy it is taking chances with players who are in the final year of their contract. IMO, whatever we could’ve got out of RvP in 2013 outweighed the 24m United traded for… Read more »
On Cazorla, we have an option for a 1-year extension written into his contract. We can renew it next summer without an issue if we want to, so there’s no rush.
Levy is a wanker we do not want to be like him in any way. I prefer that we are honest and above board, there isn’t enough of that around these days.
Not sure what to make of these comments from Arsene though … a little worrying …
Thanks to levy we got ozil.
He did his best to prevent it though didn’t he
Uh oh…
WTF!! Blown me head off!!
Says the man with 200MM pound in the bank. They’re both world class and both essential to the success of this team. Furthermore, with all of the money in the Premier league and our bank balance, we can afford it. If they were to leave over an extra 20-30K a week, I’d be outraged at the club.
It’s not quite 20k a week though. It’s about 70k above what we’re apparently offering them, plus the increases that the rest of the squad are going to want to close the gap.
Yes, but they are asking for the going rate for their quality. Look at it this way. You’ve been getting them on the cheap for a few years. It all evens out.
The issue isn’t so much that they can’t afford what they ask for, it’s that like any sensibly run business they have to have responsibly managed budgets and cut their cloth accordingly. The going rate is set by others for a very good reason, it doesn’t mean that we will always be able to pay it, we set our own wage bill. Such is the food chain of football.
Don’t give me that corporate crap. They can more than afford it and still make their HUNDREDS of millions. The playes make the product. Pay them.
Grow up. As I say, the issue isn’t that they can’t afford it, it’s whether we want to take the risk of doing so. I suspect we will in this case but unfortunately one of the occupational hazards the club has to deal with is fans who really don’t know how to run a business.
There is a difference between a profitable business and corporate greed. Furthermore, to run a successful business you must keep your top talent, so as long as it is not financially prohibitive. It would be more risky to let these two go then to pay them. Can’t believe people are thumbing me down. All so we can run a business to squeeze the most profit possible. It’s about the football ffs.
An additional 350k £ per week would be made available in funds if we sack Venga. FACT!!! FACT!!! There, that’s a double fact, fact.
The next good top manager would want 450k a week. Fact, fact, fact
You missed the !!! after each fact to make it more of a fact.
Father?
Yeah, but your fact is the type of fact that is unlikely to be written on the side of a bus, is it? FACT!
What, does the next manager work for free then? Good one TCTDGPOAN. That’s why I like comments like this. The moment I finished reading it I thought; ‘This Ice Cream knows exactly what he’s talking about. He’s sat at his desk and carefully considered each and every word that he types thus producing a piece filled with reason, interesting points and valid argument’.
Only if we dont get another manager Arsene is the 4th highest paid manager in the world on 8.3m. He needs replacing with a quality manager. Guardiola is the highest paid with 15m. Arsene has been in his job for 20 years and as such youd expect wage rise etc. And he gets paid half as much as a manager whos been in charge for a few months. How much do you think our new manager would get paid??? FACT FACT!!
Özil and Sánchez clearly seem happy on the pitch so I don’t see why this is such a saga.
I know players tend to hold most of the cards nowadays but these two should realise that if a “bigger” club wanted them then there would have been serious public knowledge of that by now, regardless of contract length.
I don’t see Barcelona and Real Madrid coming back for either of them, so only Bayern pose a real threat but their league is less competitive and, more importantly, less wealthy in terms of financial income.
Juve? Dortmund? Atletico? All Viable options. Not saying they would go there but they would have suitors and those suitors would be attractive. In regards Bayern, they would be able to pay whatever they want so the wealth of the league is irrelevant and consistently challenging for the Champions league makes them a no brainer. Lewandowski et al are not going to be on peanuts.
Merely playing devils advocate think both will stay just pointing out we are not un-leaveable
Alexis to Bayern seems more likely, but I’m not really sure why.
He seems more suited to them alright doesn’t he?? But I wonder where he would fit in in their squad. I think the big draw we currently have for the two boys is that they will be guaranteed starters (when fit) with us and they can still challenge for titles. If they go somewhere else they will most likely play less. We should angle it that way perhaps….and with lots of cash on top of that too. I genuinely think they will both resign. Just have a hunch.
Wenger is right but most top players are a bit of a mercenary. Hope he manages to make them sign
Their managers are completely ‘mercenary’…
I’ve no knowledge of how this works but I guess agents make more money if a player moves clubs rather than renews.
I think this is an appeal by Wenger to players to ignore the agents money based argument to what happens inside the club and on the pitch, which the agents ignore.
you have to pay to keep quality
The pessimist in me hopes they choose all other reasons over footballing reasons. If you could move to Real, Barca or Bayern and have a realistic shot at winning the Champions League every season (and in Bayern’s case pretty much be nailed-on to win the league), why would you stay at Arsenal for footballing reasons? In Ozil’s case, having won everything other than the CL already I don’t think it’s as big of a factor (being liked and respected by your fans and club are probably important, as well as being able to play the style of football he likes),… Read more »
Is winning the (at most) 2 horse race called Bundesliga more rewarding than winning what is usually the most competitive league in the world?
Personally I’d put the Bundesliga somewhere around the French or Dutch league level of achievement.
(and I’m a fan of German football!).
No, but it is more rewarding than not winning what is usually the most competitive league in the world.
Surely a solution to this is to negotiate a contract for a certain wage with a percentage increase year on year. This will stop the re-negotiation and contract extensions. It happens in a lot of other jobs so why not football. If a footballer believes his future at a club is for 4 years then sign the contract for that period of time with inflation rises per year. So 150k per week (year 1) 165k per week (year 2) 182k per week (year 3) 200k per week (year 4) After that period of time then either move on or re-negotiate… Read more »
I theory, sure, but unfortunately the level of constant headhunting in football throws those rules out the window. The players of this level are more akin to CEOs of large corporations. When one fails / wins and gets boring / finds a shiny new toy, they move on to the next.
To my mind I can’t see what more Wenger can do in these regards than what he is right here: appeal to the players’ altruism, build a good environment to be in, and not buy cunts in the first place.
The “cunts”, as you put it, are you, if you were a talented top-class footballer. So I’m asking you to be honest now. You’ve been with Arsenham Hotguns for two seasons and done pretty well. Your reputation is enhanced in Europe, and numerous top teams are likely to offer you a decent pay rise and a very good chance of big trophies in each of the last four years of your career (Yes, you are 29 and an attacking player, and defenders seem to be getting faster every day). So will you join a bigger team for bigger money, or… Read more »
A lot of good points, and very fair argument. But my application of the derogatory was more particular to those players Arsene has been good at avoiding as of late- the obvious egomaniacs, camp disrupters.
It is also tempered by the nature of how these two arrived. Both were at big clubs, and left them for the love of football.
Can only say that it’s looking like a huge season for Arsenal football club… If a major, major trophy such as the PL or CL can be pulled out of the hat, then perhaps Ozil or Sanchez will stick around purely for footballing reasons. And maybe another player of their calibre arriving in the summer would help.
Otherwise, it’s cough up or we’re back to where we started circa 2008, 2011, 2013, you name it. I don’t want to go back!!
Oh no…
Yeah we should stop our top players from getting a raise and buy another top player by paying ridiculous transfer fee and then give them the same wages we refused to pay in the first place.
Makes sense.
Nope. If we get in a new top player we’ll have to pay him more because we need to sweeten the deal to get him (because our competition for him is Bayern Munich/PSG/Real Madrid/Barcelona/Juventus/Citeh/United/Chelsea), plus his possible concerns about living in England, our historical lack of internationally meaniongful trophies, and the constant articles in the Press suggesting we are a Club that is stingy with wage increases ;-). Also, if we are getting rid of Sanchez and Ozil and getting the new player in then surely that tells the new player that Arsenal are desperate for a top player and… Read more »
But Pablo said Özil has already signed. I am outraged that people make things up on the internet for something as useless as followers.
Arsene wenger is the 4th highest paid manager in the world without winning the league for over 10years.He earns more than 8million a year.So he cant question two top players asking for the money they can get in other top teams as well.
Yes he can, that’s what he’s paid to do.
Jeesus, just when we are having a great season.. Can they just focus on winning the league this season and THEN worry about their contracts?
It’s their livelihood and the future of their kids that is on the line. Waiting is a gamble. If you give them a substantial raise in mid-contract you are proving to them that you value them as highly as they (and other clubs) value themselves, plus you guarantee them a decent income for the remaining length of the extended contract, which helps to protect their future lifestyle should they have a career-ending injury (because the club will have to pay them until their contract ends even if they can never play again). Every top player approaching his thirties starts seeking… Read more »
Yes clearly if they stay at Arsenal for a mere £200k per week, they are recklessly jeopardising their kids future – Arsenal should be reported to the social services for even suggesting they accept such a miserly wage…
ha ha … but Alexis’s dogs are very big eaters. Bite the bullet and pay them 250k a week. They are worth it. And Theo when he scores 32 goals this season.
I think it’s football reasons too as I can’t see them signing while Wengers future is up in the air.
I wouldn’t if I was in their shoes.
How do you explain a guy like Özil that all the German players playing in Bayern earns much more money than him, that Kroos (for God’s sake… Xhaka, Elneny, Cazorla are so much better than him) will earn 20M € per year in Real, twice more as he? You tell him he has to fight for the love of football in Arsenal, a team that can’t reasonably bring him the European title he wants? I agree with Arsène, but these guys are competitors and they are salarees. Imagine you work in a company for good money, you realise your neighbour… Read more »
Considering the number of clubs that have approached Wenger, yes, he likely did have those thoughts.
Yes, but you don’t know what they offered him… maybe less than what he asked to stay at Arsenal…
The number of clubs that you talk about would be Madrid and PSG with wads of cash. Both are known to hire and fire at will. Something that Arsenal gave Arsene for good, his job security and the perennial lower expectations. The power Arsene enjoys at Arsenal would be unmatched in any other club in world football. So Arsene staying put with Arsenal and the top players sticking to Arsenal are a totally different matter altogether. We have seen this over the years with Viera and Henry and we would likely see such instances beyond Ozil and Sanchez, but lets… Read more »
That only furthers the point that he likely considered his love for football. Why go to a place that turns football into a financial or political competition, throwing away players and managers like chips wrappers, when you can focus on football?
Any claims Wenger doesn’t love football and doesn’t love this club are frankly ridiculous.
It would cost £100m to replace them, new players bought for huge fees would want £200,000k p.w anyway.
Might as well keep what we have and cough up.
Not ideal, but that’s football in 2016.
Suck it up Arsene.
I really don’t think money is the end game here – they want to know that they can win trophies with us. Who wouldn’t?! When you’re loaded and that talented, you want to look back on your life and have something else to show for it rather than an incredibly healthy bank balance.
There’s no evidence that this has anything to do with what we can or can’t win. Besides, they’re the most highly-paid players at the club, if any players are responsible for delivering those trophies it’s these two. If it wasn’t all about money then they’d stay on their same wages and ensure they won us the trophies!
Don’t get excited. Your comment hasn’t suddenly got popular. That green tick was supposed to be a red one.
I don’t believe you can win the CL, for instance, by expecting your best two players to carry the rest of the squad on their backs, no matter what they’re paid. The teams that win the CL have one thing in common… more than two players of Ozil/Sanchez quality.
Arsene Wenger is not refusing to give them the raises thay want. He doesn’t pay them, and he doesn’t decide what their wage will be. You either didn’t read what the article said, you do not understand what he said, or maybe you just plain don’t like him.
Pay them!
Always remember Ian Wright saying in an interview that when he went in to contract re-negotiations with Arsenal, his first words were always “Where do I sign?”
What a legend!
Yes, but that was after months of negotiations between Arsenal and his agent. His agent told him to “go in on Monday and sign da ting because I got you a lovely payrise.”
“Personally, in my life, I’ve never looked too much at what the others earn…”
He’s such a wise man.
C’mon Arsene, let’s not play this game again in 2016. These two guys are world class players. We would have to spend up to 150m euros to replace them both in today’s crazy transfer market and we will end up paying crazy wages as well. For me, i don’t think it should be a problem if their wage demands are the only reasons they haven’t extended their contracts yet. One of the ‘negative’ effects of having a huge TV revenue is paying huge wages to the players that do the actual work. It will cost us more to replace these… Read more »
Sanchez may deserve 200k a week, but ozil does not deserve such wages…..Sanchez is always doing everything on the pitch , he is a machine……Arsenal can afford to loose Ozil, but we must try every means to keep Sanchez….
The drugs you’re on seem ify, you should consider changing them.
As much as i admire Arsène, all this is not sane and we do not need to know this. After the argument of “we had to pay the stadium”, now the argument, if Mesut and Alexis leave, will be “they have no feeling for the club and therefore for the fans… They are mercenaries”. This is not something to imply, Arsène…
Anyway they ALL are mercenaries! From the manager to the coach, from the players to the physios! How many here can honestly say they work for the beauty of it!
Not sure I agree with your interpretation. It makes Wenger out to be some kind of scumbag. In my opinion he said, in effect: 1) I have always supported players being paid the best wages they can get (but I have less influence now that Stan is in charge? ). 2) I’ve told the Club how important you are to the squad and to my plans 3) I get a strong feeling that Arsenal are going to say no to your wage demands, and that is their right, and they know the consequences if you disagree. I cannot argue with… Read more »
At 160k per week he allready makes per week what i make in 4 years. So he makes more per year than most people do in a lifetime.
But I guess what he is saying is i could go to Bayern Münich and guarantee titles and make a serious challenge for the Champions league, so if you want me to continue to play for Arsenal im going to need atleast 250k per week to do that.
I’m surprised that people don’t see that this is all part of the dance. The players’ agents plant pieces in the papers to place pressure on the club and vice-versa. What we don’t know is how far apart the parties are at this stage but I’m not overly concerned right now. The players don’t strike me as being unhappy, they just want to get as much as they can out of the club. Equally the club will know that they need to protect their investments and do all they can to keep them. Ultimately, as much as it hurts, we… Read more »
Our start to the season has helped too – if our performances (and our potential) weren’t looking as good as they were right now, Wenger might be less bullish. Some people are just saying “pay them what they’re worth” but that’s crazy advice in a market where the highest wage level is influenced by oil or sovereign state funding (PSG/City) or beefed up by record-breaking commercial deals (Manyoo). The difficulty for us at Arsenal is that we compete in a league that has 2-3 teams whose transfer strategy tends to inflate wages for world-class players across Europe. The advantage for… Read more »
Bad sign.
Pay them what they are worth and they will stay.
And what they’re worth is not some number AW or whoever has in their head, its what the market says it is. Whether that market is logical or not. I dont think a new Porsche 911 is worth what they charge, but theyre not lowering the price as a result.
You’d think someone with an economics degree would get this.
He gets it, but he doesn’t have to like it. He can see this is a crazy, out of control and unsustainable market, where player fees and wages are driven entirely by the manipulative skulduggery of agents, the greed of, and competition for, top players, shit stirring press and the feverish expectations of fans. It’s a market that has become totally divorced from any notion of value and one day will spiral up its own fundament…
Perhaps. Ratings are down.
But in the meantime, these players cost what they cost. Pretending they will (or even should) take less to stay at Arsenal is tilting at windmills.
Does anyone know what they were on at Barca and Real? Did they take a pay cut to join us?
I have a concern lingering at the back of my mind if these issues aren’t resolved soon. If we’re doing really well come end of the season, could it all be disrupted with issues regarding the future of certain people related to the club? As in, disruption in our momentum could stem from ongoing player contract uncertainty, and wenger being linked to England job. (TO an extent similar to the way rednap being linked to england ruined sp*r’s campaign, inevitable or not, that uncertainty and off the pitch rumours, were big factors)
If the crowd at the Emirates give them enough love on matchdays then we give them no reason to leave. Ozil is absolutely adored at Arsenal. We need to be a bit more vocal for Alexis aswell.
Here’s to hoping this is Wenger playing mind games with the rest of the EPL and that the contracts have been already signed…
To be honest, Sanchez looked so miserable after our 6-0 win in the Champions League last night I started asking myself what the fucking point of it all must be for him. He gets paid a shit load already, more in a month than I will earn working much harder than him in a decade. He plays at a great team, playing great football, who are in it to win it every season. He has the freedom in his job to pretty much play how he wants, and has the adulation of his team mates and supporters. He is far… Read more »
LOL. Bye Bye Sanchez and Ozil. Thanks for the memories.