Was watching Sky Sports News on FSC...of course, it's tabloid fodder, but some of the London papers are reporting that TH14 will require a £40 million, 7-year contract extension when his current one expires, plus licensing fees for his image and other benefits. He's arguably the best player in the world (only not arguably to we Gooners) - I say he's worth every bit. Any thoughts?
Pay him. Make some of it based on games played. Add a line that says he must buy a round at The Globe for all Cup Finals.
When does his current contract expire? He's going to turn 28 in a few days and a 7 year extension sounds a bit optomistic, this story sounds like typical bullsh!t to me.
i say fuk off u french twat, think how greedy u are u top mug... the people who pay your wages struggle to pay to live in there 12th floor council flat, u've made your money, you have your big flashy cars that fuk up my air i breath in and your period english homes. i cant stand greedy people who dont think of others, when you all die all those millions aint coming wiv you. give it to charity. i must state he is a fine football player, the best in the world ATM... but to earn more in one week than im on in 4 or 5 years is wrong, and to complain because they want an extra 20k a week plus clauses like goal bonuses like most ball kickers do is very sad...
Poor argument, TheOne. While I certainly don't feel sorry for any professional athlete, the money is there. It's either going to the ownership or to the players. Thierry Henry is the elite of the elite. I say pay it, tie him up til he's 35 and let him finish his career a Gunner. It's relatively tame to pay someone of his stature just shy of £6 million a year when you compare it to baseball players like Alex Rodriguez, whose contract comes out way ahead of the one rumored for TH14.
Welcome to capitalism! Glad you stopped by...don't forget to tip your waiters and waitresses on your way out.
Erm, no 33-35 year old forward is worth that much money.. That story is a joke. And a tangent about your a-rod comparison... Football salaries aren't as stratified as they are in Baseball (not as much disparity between the rich and the poor on any given club, notice i didn't say league). You can't compare top player's salaries across the two sports for this reason alone. Football clubs will have many more players at or around the same top wage while many baseball teams will have only a handful of their players taking up up to half their wage bill. Thus football teams are limited in their ability to give any one player a-rod money, though the total wage bill ends up near the same. It will be quite a while until a footballer gets anywhere near a-rod money... and probably quite awhile untill another baseball player does as well in all honesty..
Well, let's see, he has a skill that not more than 2 or 3 others in the world have, there is lots of money floating around in football, so he shouldn't get all he can? FFS, if they'll pay it, take it. If you were as good as Henry you'd be lining up for a contract like that yourself, so don't act as if he's evil or something. Back to the article, though, I'm pretty sure it's complete BS.
Who knows? They're putting out this piece of crap story. But to be honest i'm not familiar with that paper at all. When i was over in the UK i mistakenly picked up the Sunday Mirror... worst paper i ever read, hands down.
Til he's 35? or beyond? If they wouldn't do it for Bergkamp why would they do it for Henry. I can't see Arsenal tying its hands with this type of long term, big money contract. I could see the club extending his contract to a four year deal, thats it. I'm still wondering how long he has left on his current deal, 2 years?
Heh.. so a seven year extension expiring when he's 37... for £6 mill a year... riiiiiiight. If Henry is playing in the first division in any league when he's 37, i'll be very impressed. There's only one Dennis Bergkamp afterall.
The article was dreamt up by Harry Harris at The Daily Express. Complete bull on the slowest of slow news days. With 18 months to go on his contract I'd be surprised if the Arsenal board aren't starting talks with him and his advisers, but the story is crap.
TheOne is a bigger prick than Harry Harris who wrote both of those articles in Daily Express and the Daily Star. He's never liked Arsenal and i can't remember the last time he predicted anything but doom for our club. LMAO for thinking he knows anything about Henry. The first paper to have any exclusive on Henry would be The Sun. He has a contract with them. Anyway, Henry is the least greedy player in our squad. He should be paid within reason whatever he wants. PPS. Harry Harris is a knob.
Probably a madeup story but I think the 5.7m/year(110k/week) is fine. It is just the length that is crazy. A 4 year, 23m deal sounds good to me and then Arsenal could go the yearly extension way until the sad day of his retirement comes around.
If it takes £40 Million+ to keep Thierry for 7 years, it will be worth every single penny. And more. Anyway, £40 Million for 7 years works out to £100000 a week, which isn't too much for a player of Henry's calibre. But I doubt we would offer him such a long contract.
3 comments: 1) This story is crap, but it presents an excellent point for debate. 2) A team with a player of the caliber of Henry will make so much more money due to his marketable potential that he deserves a share of it. 3) This guy is not a factory worker who will retire at 65. Like most professional athletes he is sacrificing his body for his sport at a very young age. He will not be able to go to work in the morning at 40 doing this as most employees do. So he should make a lot more up front. I mean we all know of other financial opportunities that pop up later on for retired athletes...coaching, book deals, etc., but that is only available to a % of a % of retired athletes and the $ from that is not a guarantee like a salary at football.
We should ask ourselves what he is worth in the transfer market. If the going rate for Essien is in excess of 30M gbp and you have to pay wages on top of that it seems to me that Henry is worth 40 over 7 years. Now, I know that the Essien fee is only rumored but SWP sold for 21. To replace Henry and do it with a player at anywhere near his stature would require 20M easy. You've got wages on top of that. I don't particularly like the idea of titi trotting out there into the latter half of his 30s but we could front load the contract to make that easier to deal with.