PREMIER LEAGUE stars are being urged to take a pay cut during the coronavirus pandemic with a potential £100million ready to be contributed to the fight.
Clubs across Europe are instilling salary reductions to ensure regular staff are paid during football’s lockdown – but English football is yet to agree on its next step.
Harry Maguire has reportedly pushed Man Utd teammates towards a pay cutCredit: Reuters
Recent donations from big name stars include a a £900,000 figure from Lionel Messi going to hospitals in Spain and Argentina while Neymar is said to have anonymously pledged £770,000 to UNICEF.
Most footballers earn nothing like those elite earners but local contributions have played a part alongside the offerings from the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Pep Guardiola.
The latest official accounts on player wages, tallied by Deloitte, outline a massive £2.9billion earned annually across the top-flight.
Given these numbers are for the 2017/18 season, they are undoubtedly higher now after salaries rose 15 per cent to reach that figure from the previous year.
Therefore a simple two-month pay cut of 20 per cent across the board would raise at least £100m to ensure staff are paid and to help the NHS.
And that figure rockets up to £150m if the cut is either extended to three months or two months’ wages are reduced by 30 per cent.
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Criticism has been launched at players for being slow to react to the pandemic, which has caused an unprecedented crisis for the global economy and many countries’ healthcare systems.
Reports on Friday revealed Manchester United players are set to donate 30 per cent of their wages for a month to the NHS.
In addition, Tottenham, Newcastle, Bournemouth and Norwich have controversially furloughed some staff members – requiring the government to pay up to 80 per cent of their wages despite the vast revenues made by every Premier League team.
In taking his own pay cut of around £300,000, former Spurs star Gary Lineker urged others to do more, stating: “I expect, and hope, and think it’s right, that footballers will do their bit.”
However he has condemned politicians for targeting footballers and the Players Football Association for “rarely give giving great guidance or leadership”.
He added: “If it transpires that [players] don’t [contribute], I’ll be their harshest critic. Let’s see before we judge.”
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Health secretary Matt Hancock had asserted that the “first thing Premier League footballers can do is make a contribution.”
Julian Knight MP, the chair of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee hit out at the Premier League’s “moral vacuum” and Labour’s David Lammy MP called it: “Criminal that footballers haven’t moved more quickly to take pay cuts and deferrals.”
Important in formulating a unified pay cut, the PFA last night stated: “Our current position is that – as businesses – if clubs can afford to pay their players and staff, they should.
They added: “We fully accept that players will have to be flexible and share the financial burden.”
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
