tadhger09 » Sun Sep 15, 2013 11:58 pm wrote:aCe' » Sun Sep 15, 2013 8:50 pm wrote:I'm not buying the moderate wages talk. Sakho is on at least 100K a week I would assume. Thats if he took a pay cut to join us. Still puts him and Agger on a higher wage bracket than most CBs at some of the clubs around us like Cahill, Luiz, Ivanovic, Koscieny, Varmaelen, Vertonghen, Kaboul...etc. Toure is probably half that amount; around 50k I would assume. Moses is on the same wages Chelsea would have payed. Then you have the likes of Henderson who are massively over-payed; earning anywhere between 65-75k depending on the reports you choose to believe (or not if you're in denial). More than that payed for the likes of Ramsey and Arteta and at least comparable if not more than what the likes of Ramirez, Cleverly, and pretty much all of the Tottenham CMs earn.
So no, I dont think we offer low wages unless we're talking about big players who would demand 120+ or risky targets who also expect big money 80+ (Etoo...etc basically another J.Cole situation).
Look into moneyball and you'll find that the a team can can be made up of a few high earners but the rest is made up of players on low to moderate wages. Ian Ayre came out last week and said that Sakho was our marquee signing of the window. Cant see Aspas, Alberto, Mingolet, Toure on big wages.
People need to drop the moneyball talk once and for all. You dont pay 35mill, 20mill, 15mill...etc etc on signing on fees and put the players on high wages (by all standards, expect perhaps Man City's) and then claim that there's value in whats being done. If Aspas and Alberto (a complete gamble imo, not even stats can explain that one) were our only 2 signings then I would have understood your point.
As things stand, most of the players in our starting 11 are on very high wages (around 75k or more). Johnson, Agger, Skrtel, Sakho, Gerrard, Lucas, Henderson, Suarez. I'm sure a couple of other players -maybe Sturridge and Toure- earn something similar but lets assume they dont for the sake of it. I'm positive that no other clubs in the league besides Man City, Chelsea and ManUtd have as many 75k+ players in their side. The point you are trying to make would only be valid if we paid Gerrard and Suarez 120k+ like we do and then had everyone else (including new transfers assuming they're not superstars or 120k+ players) on 50k or less.
So to sum it up, yes we have been reducing our wage spend by selling high earners but we havent changed much in terms of the wages we offer our new signings from what I can tell. And another thing, in what world does it make sense to spend 20mill on a player only to pay him 30k a week. He's either a 20mill player who deserves to be paid a salary accordingly or he isnt, in which case we shouldnt spend the 15 or 20mill to start with. Any excuse of "we signed Allen because we can pay him low wages and that offers us value" is complete nonsense when the transfer fee is taken into account.
