Arsenal and Ivan Perisic: God damn those wages

According to reports in Italy, Arsenal and Ivan Perisic have agreed on a €3 million post-tax wage rising to €3.5 million in the summer. If true, that really is horrific business.

My problem with Arsenal’s proposed move to Ivan Perisic was never the player per se. It was not the position they were tying to address. It was not even the initial structuring of the deal, a six-month loan with a small upfront fee, reported to be in the region of £3 million. My problem was based primarily on the financial pressures that his signing would enforce.

Find the latest episode of the Pain in the Arsenal Podcast here — Man. Utd Madness; Transfer Travesty

Perisic is 29. Whatever money is invested now will not be recouped whenever he is sold by virtue of his age — few other teams are as stupid as Arsenal at signing old players with little to no resale value. He will also command substantial wages. These two facts display the financial stretching that he will cause.

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The reported deal from David Ornstein is this: a six-month loan with a £35 million clause to buy in the summer. That would put the total fee paid at close to £40 million. For a club that apparently cannot afford any permanent moves this January and is already having to deal with a slew of ageing players on high wages and little value in the market, this is a terribly stupid move.

Sadly, though, it gets worse. According to reports in Milan, Perisic is set to earn €3 million per anum for the first six months of his time in north London. That will then rise to €3.5 million per anum next season. European wage figures are quoted post-tax — his net earnings. So for English terms, Perisic will earn €6 million and then €7 million per anum.

Using the current exchange rate and dividing by 52, the number of weeks in a year, that comes at an approximate wage between £215,000 and £220,000 per week. That would put Perisic on the same kind of wages as Henrikh Mkhitaryan, another ageing, unproductive winger who is now a problem that Arsenal cannot solve.

And that is the issue that I had with the Perisic deal all along. It was obvious that the Gunners were going to have to shell out substantial cash both in regards to a transfer fee and a wage. If Perisic was in his early-20s and was a rising player with a bright future, then it makes a lot of sense. Not only does he have more years to offer, but you can then sell him for a reasonable fee, likely at least what you paid for him if not significantly more depending on his performances, and reinvest that in his replacement.

Now that Perisic is already 29, in two years, Arsenal will need to replace him — as is also the case with Mkhitaryan, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Aaron Ramsey and Mesut Ozil, all key attacking players — and will have little money from his sale to do so.

Every development that I hear about this deal makes me cringe even more. It just seems like a horrific, horrific piece of business. Unfortunately, that is precisely what Arsenal are now known for.