Quote:
Originally Posted by diane_phaneuf
Post 1240 in this thread has the average wage bill per player of each team, Arsenal's is 50m more than Spurs
Arsenal were 5th in England, Spurs 10th
and even with Spurs spending more in actual transfer fees, its still a 25m gap between the two per season. Quite large
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Addick
However, one of the reasons why our wage bill is so high is due to the investment in youth/younger players. It's not that we are showering World Class players that we bought in the summer with cash but rather, rightly or wrongly, paying a premium for our younger players to ward off potential suitors.
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I never disputed that Arsenal spent quite a bit more, just pointing out that 25 million per year is not marginal. I also don't know this years salaries but I bet the gap closed a bit, however according to Levy's comments about trimming the squad due to the lack of CL revenue, it will probably widen back to this level.
I have heard that Arsenal have the highest paid youth/reserve teams (by quite a bit alledgedly) and a large chunk of our salaries go to these players. This still constitutes a legitimate payroll expense, so I am not saying it should be wiped aside, but I recall our top players historically were underpaid when compared to other top clubs.
I am not disputing that Arsenal have a higher wage structure and probably will for awhile, but I bet if you take actual squads, 25 players as the premier league allows, the gap is a lot closer.