SUIYHA
Scott Parker
a 150k p/w wage would make him our highest earner by around 50% more than that of our 2nd highest earner - that is what is important in this whole debate not what he earns in respect to other players at different clubs - can you offer an argument as to why he should be earning that much more than his team mates?
(hypothetically speaking of course as we don't really know the figures)
i don't think anyone would begrudge him being put in our top bracket for wages as he is one of our most important players - the issue is the hypothetical 150k which would put him way beyond our top bracket
For starters - I'd be happy to give Lloris and Kane the same salary as Eriksen. They've all sat through a lot of crap with us but been consistently good. I'd also happily give the same to Dier and Alli if they continue to improve and progress over the next year or two. Possibly Toby as well. But afterwards, it all comes down to market forces. If Vertonghen came and demanded £150k a week, for example, on the basis that he's also been first choice throughout the AVB, Sherwood and Poch years, I'd tell him to do one because we can arguably find better or at least comparable level centre-backs on our own bench, let alone available in the transfer market for less.
We used to be in a position where our wage bill was low and most of our players weren't very good, save for a few up and coming youngsters who knew they'd need to perform to really impress for the big bucks. In those instances, we'd have to cash in on them when they'd proven their worth to the bigger clubs - think Carrick, Berbatov, Modric and Bale. We'd have to re-invest that cash and bring the average quality of the squad up slowly. Now, we are now getting to a stage where actually, our squad is pretty good. We have a lot of good players. We are in the Champions League. We may not be title favourites but we are recognised as one of the stronger teams in the country. Now we need to be trying to keep those players. And if that means paying them what they can get elsewhere, then so be it. Would be catastrophic to lose such an important player at this stage of the window.