NEIL MOXLEY Levy must pay.. or say farewell to Kane and Co
What’s going on at Chelsea? The messages from the newly-crowned champs are mixed. Manager Antonio Conte (left) hasn’t signed a new deal, the saga over striker Diego Costa (right) rumbles on, and they haven’t signed anyone. It doesn’t smell right at Stamfo
Follow us on Twitter: @peoplesport ALEXIS SANCHEZ wants £400,000 a week or he won’t stay at Arsenal.
If his demands are not met, the Chilean will play for Pep Guardiola at Manchester City instead, on the wages he wants. Or Inter Milan.
Wayne Rooney manages to get by on £300,000-a-week at Manchester United. Paul Pogba the same. Romelu Lukaku’s Old Trafford pay will be pegged somewhere close.
Mind-boggling figures. It’s gone beyond obscene. It’s heading towards new levels of repugnancy.
The bubble of football grows bigger. Perfectly decent human beings simply shrug their shoulders and look the other way while player-pay rockets at the top end.
Yet while Manchester City, Manchester United and now possibly Arsenal are seemingly prepared to lose all sense of perspective, others are not.
That’s not to say the likes of Chelsea and Liverpool aren’t paying good wages – they are.
Everton too have joined the party. Armed with wads of owner Farhad Moshiri’s cash, boss Ronald Koeman has lifted their wage ceiling – six-figure weekly wage deals no longer a thing of the past.
But what of Spurs, the second- best team in England last season? They still have a limit. And they are sticking to it, thanks very much.
Ross Barkley’s name sat atop their list of targets at the start of the summer. The going rate for his services is £130,000 a week. The signing has been passed up.
Ditto with Sandro Ramirez, signed by Everton from Malaga for £5.25million.
Don’t be fooled by the size of the fee, the forward comes at serious cost. And again the word is that it was a step too far for Tottenham. At this point you might reasonably expect me to ask their head honcho Daniel Levy to start living in the real world and just dig deeper.
On the contrary, I think he is living in the real world. It’s the rest of them getting it wrong.
Levy is famous for driving a hard bargain. He’s not particularly liked for it, but he is one tough cookie.
He is not averse to handing out significant pay increases to the likes of Harry Kane, Dele Alli and the rest, but you don’t get something for nothing with Levy.
However, now his club appears to be on the cusp of greatness, with exciting plans for the new stadium... that means this will be the last season when Spurs’ chief decision- maker can keep standing against the tide.
If Dele Alli is being paid £80,000 a week for starring in the Premier League, Champions League and the World Cup with England next summer, in 12 month’s time his agents will be camped outside White Hart Lane with a megaphone screaming for parity with the game’s best.
And if they don’t get it, he’ll be off.
You can say the same about Harry Kane, Christian Eriksen and the rest.
Spurs have operated within their limits. Only Arsene Wenger has consistently managed his money better. It would be fantastic if Levy did plonk his stake in the ground and say: ‘This is it. I’m not going any higher.’
But the market dictates that if you have a two-time golden boot winner on your books he is going to want to be paid like a two-time golden boot winner.
Kane could be forgiven for asking: ‘I scored more goals than Sanchez, Rooney and Aguero – where’s my £400,000 a week?’.
Spurs will just have to join the party. The increased cash from the new stadium will help them raise the salary ceiling at White Hart Lane. And just in time, too. As far as the market is concerned, Levy stands like a latter-day King Canute – drowning in defiance of the waves of cash.
If he wants to keep Spurs’ impressive cast together he will now have to give way.