Arsenal was the first Premier League team to convince their players to take pay cuts to help the club, however, it was a decision that could do some serious damage, certainly in the short term.
The Gunners did that successfully, but it didn’t come without controversy and now we have Mesut Ozil, one of the players that rejected the proposal, under intense scrutiny for his stance on the issue.
I am one of those Arsenal fans who aren’t proud that we asked our players to take pay cuts, this shows to the public that we are struggling with money issues.
What happens now when we make a big-money signing in the summer? Won’t we have proven Ozil right that he shouldn’t have taken a pay cut?
In our bid to continue proving that we don’t have all the money in the world, does that also mean we lack the funds to make any significant signings when the transfer window opens?
Whatever choices the club makes from now on will be judged based on the decision to ask the players to take wage cuts.
I reckon that the club wants to use the money to make summer signings, however, we won’t be able to flex our financial muscles like we initially expected, not without looking morally bankrupt.
This is because every eye will be on teams that have either furloughed their staff or asked their players to take wage deferrals and that sadly includes us.
I wonder who came up with that idea, but I think it was a wrong move, especially if we plan to still splash the cash in the summer.
In better words, you cannot have your cake and eat it, you cannot ask the players to cough up and then go into the transfer window and spend £50 Million.
Which begs the question, have Arsenal screwed their own transfer plans because they went after the players for money?
An article by Jacob B