Premiership player pay issues highlight kick-off
What you need to know:
- The biggest pre-season story has been the revelation that Victor Wanyama’s Tottenham Hotspur are employing a rigid pay structure and curbing spending on increased wages and player signings.
- The news broke after Spurs’ left back Danny Rose said in an interview that he would be happy to leave the club to get a better pay cheque.
IN LONDON
The English Premier League season starts here this weekend but interestingly, you wouldn’t quite feel it at this end of London.
Save for billboards announcing new ticket prices by various premiership clubs, or television channels offering their premiership menu, one doesn’t get the feeling that former champions Leicester City were up against Arsenal right here in London Friday night, or that title holders Chelsea host Burnley on Saturday at Stamford Bridge and Crystal Palace are also at home in London to new boys Huddersfield.
It’s bizarre that the noise generated by English Premier League fans in Kenya sounds a few decibels louder that that generated at the home of the League, a championship made popular by television with increased interest generated by the betting craze.
The biggest pre-season story has been the revelation that Victor Wanyama’s Tottenham Hotspur are employing a rigid pay structure and curbing spending on increased wages and player signings. The news broke after Spurs’ left back Danny Rose said in an interview that he would be happy to leave the club to get a better pay cheque.
“I’m not saying I want out, but if something came to me that was concrete, I’d have no qualms about voicing my opinions to anyone at the club,” The Daily Mail quoted Rose as saying. Wages in football thoroughly eclipse what track and field athletes get, with gold medal winners at the London World Championships, for example, earning “just” $60,000 (Sh6 million) while at Spurs, Rose has signed a new 65,000-pounds-a-week (Sh8.7 million) deal.
At Manchester United, Paul Pogba is the highest earner with a salary of 280,000 pounds-a-week (Sh37.8 million).
Meanwhile, other bits of premiership news doing the rounds here say Arsenal are closing in on a 225,000 pounds-a-week (Sh30.3 million) deal with German striker Mesut Ozil after his agents failed to get any European club to match or improve the offer.
Along with the 160 million pound (Sh21.6 billion) transfer of Monaco youngster Kylian Mbappe to PSG, days after the world record, 198 million pound (Sh27 billion) signing of Neymar at Parc de Princes by the well-heeled French giants, transfer news and re-negotiated pay for the football stars highlights the build-up to the premiership kick-off here.
That aside, athletics fans still look forward to this weekend’s final two days of action amid the premiership din.
