Arsenal's board have announced that they will cut up to 55 staff from next season, the purpose of which is nothing other than to reduce spending in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic still rampant.
Sporting director Raul Sanllehi and Vinai Venkatesham CFO admitted that cutting staff before the new season was necessary. The Emirates duo believes the move is a necessary one to maintain stability and balance.
Many experts believe that one of the reasons for this action by the Gunners' leadership is the huge salary that the team is carrying. People like Mesut Ozil are becoming redundant but still receive 350,000 pounds/week (about 18 million pounds/year). Coach Mikel Arteta himself is also concerned about the German star's case. He has not played for the "Gunners" for a single minute since the tournaments returned after a 3-month delay.
Against Arsenal, another English side were also negatively affected by COVID-19, leading to the fulfillment of their dream of a lifetime, Newcastle. One of the major reasons why the Arabian owners did not play until the end in the deal to buy back the "Magpies" was because they had anticipated that they might not be able to earn enough money to compensate for the expenses. COVID-19 is turning the world around, turning the numbers on the contracts.
Another London side, Tottenham, had intended to cut staff by 20% in March. Liverpool also want to do the same when the new COVID-19 epidemic broke out. However, after many opposations from fans and workers, these two teams have changed their minds.
Before the FA Cup final, President Stan Kroenke had promised to spend more money to invest in Arsenal if they won the championship. In the end, Aubameyang and his teammates did it and pulled straight into the Europa League group stage. COVID-19 can kills many billionaires, but for Kroenke, it won't, he will earn about 300 million pounds more in this year 2020. At that time, the total assets of this tycoon were about 8.1 billion pounds.
"We are in the process of negotiating for about 30 days to come to important decisions. We know that things like this are very sensitive and make the staff working here feel unhappy.
It is a fact that the club's revenue has decreased significantly, from television rights to commercial activities. This is happening and is expected to last until the 2020-21 season.
In the 134 years of the club's establishment, we have never had to face a prospect like this. The pandemic has changed everything, we need to take timely action in a short time to reduce costs.
Above all, this has only one goal, which is to develop the team more and more. After that, it has maintained its adaptation to the post-COVID-19 era. We also have to absolutely ensure the cost so that Arsenal can play fully and successfully in both domestic and international competitions," the announcement from Arsenal's owners.
