Arsenal stars set for huge Champions League bonus

As the games count down and the final table draws nearer, Arsenal are doing everything in their power to be in the Premier League top four come May 22.

Beating Watford 3-2 last time out moved them into the automatic Champions League spots for the first time in two months, a position they held across the matchweek with Manchester United falling to defeat away at Manchester City.

Last season the total required to claim fourth in the table was 67 points, 19 more than Arsenal currently have with another 39 available for Mikel Arteta’s side to win this term. Some of the football on display bodes well for the Gunners’ achieving the required amount.

Not only is a return to Europe’s elite competition on the cards. The calibre of player Arsenal can attract as they continue their rebuild is among the finest world football has to offer, while the budget they need to land those targets also gets an increase.

Arsenal stars set for huge Champions League bonus with some players in line for £500k lump sums and salary increases if top four is secured

For the project being undertaken it would be transformative. It turns out, for the players’ pockets it would be rewarding too.

As per Adrian Kajumba, a one-off bonus would be due to the squad for finishing in the top four. Some of the players are in line to receive as much as £500k as one huge lump sum bonus, with the amount each player receives being calculated on a pro-rata basis.

Qualification to the Champions League is worth at least £50m in broadcasting revenue and prize money, and a large percentage of that will be paid to the Arsenal players whose efforts help bring and end to a five-year absence from the competition.

Additionally, there are players within the squad who have clauses in their contracts which will see their salaries raised automatically for the 2022/23 campaign should they finish in the top four, and those weekly wages will remain in place for each season they compete in the Champions League. Progress-related bonuses can even be agreed ahead of the coming campaign.

If this group of players can get Arsenal back into the upper echelon of European football, then these big bonuses will be well worth their efforts.

It’s amount to quite the outlay, but the bells and whistles that come with being in the Champions League, as well as the prestige and financial boost, is worth all of it and more.

Having trimmed the wage bill down considerably over recent windows the club finds itself is a much healthier position. On the basis, that is, if they finish in the top four this season.