How Arsenal freed up staggering £32.8m-a-YEAR in wages from Mikel Arteta offloading his unwanted flops in January

Published

2nd February 2021

ARSENAL have managed to save a staggering £32.8MILLION per year by offloading a handful of big-earning flops in January.

During last month’s transfer window, Mikel Arteta focused primarily on trimming the fat on his mega-rich squad.

Arsenal are saving a staggering £32.8m on their annual wage bill after selling four flops in January

Ozil joined Fenerbahce on a free in January, saving Arsenal £350k per week

By flogging just FOUR of the club’s top earners, including £350,000-a-week Mesut Ozil, Arteta has shaved £32.8m off the annual wage bill.

Ozil left Arsenal for boyhood club Fenerbahce on a free transfer having not played for the club since March 2020.

The German playmaker, 32, was frozen out under Arteta in 2020-21 and was dropped from both the Premier League and Europa League squads.

Ozil – who took a hilarious swipe at Gooner Piers Morgan after arriving in Istanbul – commanded an annual wage of £18.2m.

Read our Arsenal live blog for the latest news from The Emirates

Of course, the midfielder had just five months to run on his deal at the time of exit.

But that alone saved Arsenal an astronomical £7.6m to put towards the summer transfer window to bring in reinforcements.

And Ozil wasn’t the only top earner to be cut free in January.

Sead Kolasinac was also loaned back to former club Schalke, with a view to moving him on permanently in the summer.

FREE BETS: GET OVER £2,000 IN SIGN UP OFFERS HERE

Sead Kolasinac joined Schalke on loan saving Arsenal £100,000 per week

The Bosnian left-back, 27, earns £100,000 per week – or £5.2m per year.

During the six months he is in the Bundesliga, Arsenal will save £2.6m.

Shkodran Mustafi is another top-earning star who left the Emirates in the winter window.

The German outcast, 28, has linked up with Kolasinac at Schalke – taking his £90,000-a-week wages off Arsenal’s books.

In total, that saves the Gunners £4.7m per year.

And with five months to run until his contract expired, Arsenal avoid paying a further £2m in wages.

Mustafi joined Ozil in quitting Arsenal, saving a further £90k per week

Sokratis, who earned £90k a week, also left Arsenal in the January window

Sokratis Papastathopoulos was the fourth and final player to leave Arsenal in January, as he moved to Olympiacos on a free.

The Greek defender, 32, also earned £90,000 a week at the Emirates, with Arsenal saving another £2m this season on his £4.7m annual pay-cheque.

In total, that gives Arsenal an overall saving of £32.8m on their annual wage bill.

From the time of each player’s exit until the end of this season, Arsenal will have saved £14.2m.

That’s more than enough to reinvest in a quality player, or put towards a world-class player.

Arsenal’s No1 priority now is putting it to good use.