By Tom Finn
24/2/14
With all the speculation regarding Bacary Sagna’s new contract at Arsenal his case is very similar to that of Glen Johnson at Liverpool, and that is that both players contracts are coming to an end with Sagna’s this summer and Johnsons next year, and they are both looking at signing better deals than their respective clubs are willing to offer them.
The Liverpool player currently makes £115,000 per-week which when compared to the £60,000 per-week that Sagna gets seems outrageous and with neither club willing to offer either player the length of contract they want it may be a case of who gives in first.
Since the Fenway Sports group took over at Liverpool the Boston based owners have put a policy on buying young players for the team that they can develop all of course except for former Arsenal player Kolo Toure who was signed from Manchester City as a free agent.
They also unloaded what they considered to be the over-paid older players on free transfers which shows that they were looking to lower their wage bill.
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers hinted this week that there might be a new contract in the offing for the 29-year-old Johnson, but he would almost certainly have to take a pay cut to stay at Anfield.
As for Arsenal and Sagna, he wants a pay increase and more than just a one-year contract, and while Arsenal will be reluctant to give into the type of contract he is looking for there are other clubs out there who will, which means it could just be a case of both clubs letting their right-backs leave rather than giving in to their demands.
One thing is for certain though and that is that Glen Johnson will not move to the Emirates for the kind of money the Gunners will be looking to pay for an aging player, despite him still being England’s first choice right-back.
