“I decide what Arsenal players earn” – Wenger

Arsene Wenger has revealed that he is responsible for the ‘socialist’ wage structure at Arsenal.

The French manager, who is trying to tie Theo Walcott to a new deal, also conceded that this type of pay system, made Arsenal vunerable.

“We don’t have a big gap between what our players earn at Arsenal,” Wenger said. “We are more a socialist model and vulnerable because of that.

“We have something that is defendable in front of every single player. We make exceptions, but the exceptions are maybe not as high as elsewhere.

“We have an amount of money that is dedicated to wages. Within that we try to do things that make sense and are defendable.”

Lukas Podolski is believed to be the club’s highest earner on about £90,000 a week and even players in the first team that don’t earn a lot pick up £50,000 a week.

In Deloitte’s last reports, Arsenal were believed to have the fifth highest wage bill in the Premiership, splashing £124million, ahead of rivals Tottenham who shelled out £91m on salaries.

It has also made it hard for Arsenal to get rid of players in the past, but according to Wenger, “I’ve believed all my life to pay well people who work for us. If you can afford to do it, you do it. But we have no players on £200,000 a week.”

“As long as our business is organised so we do not need any help from anybody… then it is defendable,” he said. “Afterwards, you can always say, ‘Is it enough, is it too much?’ That is a more philosophical question.”