LONDON: Premier League clubs will ask players to take a combination of pay cuts and deferrals amounting to 30 per cent of their salary due to the financial crisis caused by coronavirus, the league said in a statement on Friday.
The league’s highly-paid players have come under increasing pressure to take pay cuts from government officials in recent days.
“The Premier League clubs unanimously agreed to consult their players regarding a combination of conditional reductions and deferrals amounting to 30 per cent of total annual remuneration,” the Premier League said in a statement.
The Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) will meet the league and club officials to discuss the proposal on Saturday. A meeting between the 20 English top-flight clubs also agreed to indefinitely extend the suspension of the season until it is “safe and appropriate” for football to return.
The clubs are desperate for the season to be finished if possible to avoid the potential of having to reimburse broadcasters a reported USD 942 million if they fail to fulfill fixtures for television contracts. However, despite reports of creative ways to finish the campaign with matches behind closed doors and players quarantined in World Cup style training camps, the clubs insist they will follow government advice on when it is safe for matches to return.
“Any return to play will only be with the full support of government and when medical guidance allows,” the statement added.
Political football
However, there is also frustration among players that they are being used as pawns in a political battle. Premier League players are being encouraged to follow the example of Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Juventus and Atletico Madrid where players have taken pay cuts to protect other staff members.
Many in England have already made huge contributions to help their local communities.
Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford has teamed up with charity FareShare to help feed at least 400,000 children, while an anonymous Liverpool player has donated a significant amount to Alder Hey hospital. Yet, the players are questioning why they and not many billionaire owners of clubs are being told to foot the bill for the salaries of non-playing staff.
“We are aware of the public sentiment that the players should pay non-playing staff’s salaries. However, our current position is that — as businesses — if clubs can afford to pay their players and staff, they should,” the PFA said in a statement. (AFP)
