Wow..220 per week for Willian?
It sometimes amazes me that we are able to keep players having as "low" of a wage structure as we do. Really speaks to what we've built here that players are willing to take less than they might be able to get at other teams to be a part of this.
The plan has worked perfectly when you look at it, signing players with potential who aren't quite world class yet, tying them down to contracts and then turning them into superstars. I think every club in the world would probably be jealous of how we've managed to do things in the last 5 or so years. I think that footballers definitely strike a balance between wages & success, although it probably tilts more towards success. The likes of Van Dijk, Salah etc could probably easily earn an extra 100k p/w at a Madrid or a PSG, but they won't be playing in the biggest league in the world and probably wouldn't even have a better chance of success, so staying here is pretty much a no-brainer for them. It's not as though the 200k p/w they're on at the moment is any kind of a pittance
It's easy to call footballers "money-grabbers" or "mercenaries" when they leave. Sterling got it, as did Torres and many more, but I think the main motivation for both of those transfers was that those players wanted to play for (at the time) much better clubs which far greater prospects of success. Both would have gotten a payrise, which was probably a nice bonus to them, but I think the bigger prize would have been competing for titles & European Cups as opposed to playing in the Europa League & aiming for 4th place. Hypothetically, I've no doubt that if those players were playing in this current team with this current manager they wouldn't think twice about leaving
Logged