Stars and PFA playing hardball

PREMIER LEaGUE players remain defiant in their battle with clubs over pay cuts, with captains insisting they will not be rushed into a decision and the PFa demanding a financial breakdown from each club before returning to the negotiating table.

Sportsmail has learned that in a series of discussions yesterday player representatives made the point that there is no imminent deadline, as their next wages are not due to be paid until the end of april. Several clubs agreed to a two-week break in the negotiations.

The PFa have yet to be given the breakdown of each club’s finances which they requested last week and have made the receipt of such dossiers one of the conditions for bringing the players back to the negotiating table. The union are also understood to have questioned the clubs’ claims in Saturday’s conference call with captains that broadcasters would demand a rebate of £762million if the season is cancelled, which was one of their reasons for demanding a salary sacrifice worth £570m from the players.

Sportsmail has been told that Sky Sports and BT Sport have yet to decide whether they will demand any money back. Sky in particular have a strong relationship with the Premier League, as the main broadcaster throughout the competition’s 28-year history and they would be loath to jeopardise that partnership by taking action that would give several clubs severe financial problems.

Sky are holding weekly meetings with the Premier League to discuss how to generate live content in the coming weeks as well as how to compensate broadcasters for matches that have already been lost.