Premier League stars demand emergency meeting in fear of wage cuts due to coronavirus - 7M sport

Premier League stars demand emergency meeting in fear of wage cuts due to coronavirus



Posted Thursday, March 26, 2020 by Express.co.uk

Premier League stars demand emergency meeting in fear of wage cuts due to coronavirus
The PFA want an emergency meeting over wages (Image: GETTY)

Birmingham City players became the first Championship club to accept wage deferrals this week.

The PFA have released a statement calling for an "urgent meeting" with officials from the Premier League and English Football League to discuss the financial ramifications of postponing the season due to coronavirus. There has been no top flight football in England since Leicester's 4-0 win over Aston Villa over two weeks ago.

The suspension came after both Mikel Arteta and Callum Hudson-Odoi tested positive for COVID-19.

The league originally announced there would be no games played until April 3 at the earliest but that has now been pushed back to April 30 due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

With no games being played, clubs particularly in the lower leagues have been hit the hardest with no match-day income.

Clubs up and down the English football league ladder have therefore reportedly begun considering reducing the wage bill.

Birmingham set the trend on Tuesday when they announced they were asking players earning more than £6,000-per-week to accept a 50 per cent wage cut.

Leeds have also been touted as holding discussions with players about possibly following in the same footsteps as their Championship counterparts.

The move though has prompted a response from the PFA, clearly eager to find out the true extent on how finances will be affected.

"The PFA has called for an urgent meeting with both the Premier League and English Football League to discuss the impact that the COVID-19 crisis is having on the finances of both clubs and players," the statement read.

"As with other industries, the current COVID-19 crisis is having a severe impact on the finances of the game.

"Several clubs have already approached players with a view to imposing pay deferrals.

"In order to deal with this situation, we have called for an urgent meeting with both the Premier League and the EFL to discuss how we might proceed going forward."

Similar talks have been held between clubs and players around Europe, including Barcelona.

The La Liga giants reported proposed a wage reduction to some of their top players in order to help the club pay other staff and stay afloat during the coronavirus epidemic.

But it is claimed several players were unhappy with the opening proposal, calling it “not satisfactory”.

The report does add that they would be happy to take a temporary wage drop.

Barcelona's wage bill for players combines to roughly £549million while the staff at the club take home £336.6m.



Attention: Third parties may advertise their products and/or services on our website.7M does not warrant the accuracy, adequacy or completeness of their contents.
Your dealings with such third parties are solely between you and such third parties and we shall not be liable in any way for any loss or damage of any sort incurred by you.