Arsene Wenger seems to have accepted that his Arsenal side have fallen behind the big guns in England. The Gunners are currently struggling to break into the top-4 of the points table this season and Wenger decided to spend big and has added the likes of Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the January transfer window.
Though signing the Gabonese international has given the fans a lot to cheer about, the biggest news of the year so far for the Gunners was the contract extension of star playmaker Mesut Ozil.
The World Cup winner with Germany, Ozil is easily one of the best playmakers in world football at the moment and has been an important part of the squad at the Emirates for a while now. He was in the final months of his contract, but Wenger managed to convince him to extend his stay for a few more years.
However, they have had to break their wage structure and are now paying Ozil £350,000-a-week, making him the highest earner at the club. It is reported that both Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan are also earning £200,00-a-week, which will surely have an effect on the overall finances of the club.
But the bigger problem for the club will be the wage demands of players if they are to sign on new deals. The likes of Jack Wilshere are out of a contract at the end of the season but according to reports, two players Arsenal might lose, thanks to the change in their wage structure is midfielder Aaron Ramsey and attacker Danny Welbeck.
The Daily Mail claim that Ramsey, who has 18 months on his current deal with Arsenal, earns around £110,00-a-week and that he is currently in talks about a contract extension. However, with the wages for players around him, he will be tempted to demand ludicrous weekly wages, and it is understood that Arsenal might allow them to leave in the summer, and not give into their wage demands.
Danny Welbeck, who is now the third-choice striker at the club, also has 18 months left on his contract and may not be willing to extend his stay at Emirates. But both Ramsey and Welbeck could be free to quit the club, at the end of the season.
Wenger and Arsenal have always stayed away from players who have such demands but losing stars can never be easy. The wages they are paying to the likes of Ozil and Aubameyang will surely see the contracts of the players at the club improved in the near future but Arsenal will want these deals to be signed on their own terms.
They do not want to be a team that will have to pay over the odds and lure players with financial incentives and if both Ramsey and Welbeck are not happy with the wages Arsenal are ready to offer them, it might be best for all parties that they are sold in the summer.
With just a year left on their contracts in the summer, Wenger will look to get a decent price for them, which can then be reinvested in the squad before the start of the next season.
But do you think Arsenal should give in to such wage-demands in the future, to keep hold of their players?
