Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez are holding out on new Arsenal deals as they want a huge wage increase each, according to reports today.
The pair’s contracts both run out in 18 months time and although it isn’t too close to their contract expiry, the Gunners want to ensure that two of their star players are tied down for the foreseeable future.
It would also ward off interest from other clubs if they both put pen to paper on new deals and that is exactly what Arsenal are hoping for.
However, Arsene Wenger is only willing to offer both of them around £200,000 a week.
Although that is quite a significant sum, the pair both feel they should be paid even more than that, as they both feel that they are among the best in the Premier League and deserve similar pay to the top players in England.
Wenger has already broken his own rule to offer £200,000 to the duo – he once claimed that no player should earn more than the manager and he is only on £160,000 a week, meaning they would both be earning £40,000 more – but they still aren’t happy.
Contract talks now remain stalled, which is not good news, especially with several other clubs willing to sign them up and offer them the pay that they want.
Ozil is currently on £140,000 a week, which is the highest pay at the Emirates Stadium. Sanchez is just behind him at £130,000. However, they would both like to have those wages similar to top earning stars like Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic before they would consider signing a new contract each.