Arsenal target expected to move to North London giants in January doesn’t want to halve his wages

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Sometimes it really is just all about the money for some footballers. Forget ambition and drive to get to the very top, it’s the topping up of the bank balance that’s most important.

One can see in the choices that certain players make that it’s only the cash that appeals to them, and so it’s little wonder that fans are often up in arms about their commitment, or lack of it more accurately.

That’s certainly an accusation that could be levelled at Barcelona star, Samuel Umtiti.

The French World Cup winner has, apparently, steadfastly refused to move from Barcelona, despite hardly playing over the course of the last 18 months.

A reported salary of some €16m per year is believed to be the reason why the centre-back is content just to sit on the bench at Camp Nou and see out his contract.

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His colleague, Philippe Coutinho, has much the same predicament. The Brazilian is the Catalan club’s top earner, per SalarySport, and would need to significantly drop his demands in order to sign for another club, either in La Liga or elsewhere.

Four Four Two quote Sport’s original article cited by SportWitness which suggests that Coutinho is to join Arsenal on loan in January.

Philippe Coutinho

Should that precise situation come to pass, it will be interesting to see how the salary payments are drawn up between the two clubs, because there’s little chance of Coutinho of taking a pay cut according to todofichajes.

Whether you agree with his standpoint or not, he’s well within his rights to dig his heels in. After all, it wasn’t Coutinho that set the salary benchmark, that was down to disgraced former president, Josep Maria Bartomeu.

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