Falcao | She Wore A Yellow Ribbon

So Falcao is off to Manchester United for a reported £6,000,000 deal, with Manchester United also expected to cover his wages. A lot of people are screaming ‘Why were Arsenal not in for him’ and perhaps for justifiable reasons.

Over the season, Falcao will cost Manchester United £18,000,000 in wages (the figure of £9.5m is the Net figure). Expensive, yes, but £24,000,000 for a player who could score the goals to drive Arsenal to the league title, it, on paper, is a steal.

However, the finances do not add up as clear as that.

Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil are currently Arsenal’s highest earners. Both on around £140,000 a week. That is £210,000 less than Falcao. Now it is highly likely that both have, in their contracts, a parity clause, meaning that were we to sign someone, they both get a wage increase.

So we are then in a situation here signing Falcao on £350,000 a week wages would trigger an increase in both Sanchez and Ozil to the same wages. Now lets do the math:

Falcao loan fee: £6million
Falcao wages: £18million
Sanchez payrise: £11million
Ozil payrise: £11million

Total cost over next 12 months to sign Falcao: £46million

But it is not over there. Sanchez and Ozil both have 4 years on their contract. There pay rise will be relevant for their entire contract. This will work out at approximately £40million each.

So what does this cost?

Falcao loan fee: £6million
Falcao wages: £18million
Sanchez payrise: £40million
Ozil payrise: £40million

Total cost of Falcao deal: £104,000,000

And then take into account that the rumours are that Manchester United have a compulsory purchase order of anywhere between £45m – £65m.

And this is without taking into account that the agents of Aaron Ramsey, Theo Walcott, Per Mertesacker and more will be knocking on the door as soon as they hear players earning 3 or 4 times the amount as them.

As for Manchester United, Wayne Rooney is already on £350,000 a year, so signing Falcao will not trigger any wage increases for other players.

Yes, Falcao would have been a brilliant addition to the Arsenal squad, but at a suspected cost of over £100,000,000, I would rather we left it.

Keenos
Follow @KeenosAFC

Rumours are circulating that agents working on behalf of Monaco have sounded out Europe’s elite with the view of shipping out Columbian striker Radamel Falcao, who scored on his Monaco debut. Despite the hitman only signing for Monaco this summer for £50 million, it seems that the project has been vastly overestimated.

With Monaco having to pay a premium in wage’s to attract, it seems they are in a potentially similar situation as Malaga, where its own just does not have as much disposable money as first assumed. The report in Spanish paper Marca insinuates that the French club are hemorrhaging money at an unexpected rate.

Arsenal’s search for a striker seems to of stalled with the pursuit of Luis Suarez. If Falcao does come onto the market, he is certainly someone we should be interested in.

Having already bid £40m (plus £1) for Suarez, the fee of £50m will not be a problem. Falcao’s tax free wages – £270,000 per week – might be the stumbling point, as well as the reports that he might be 29 year old, rather than the 27 years he has always claimed.

Whether the rumours do turn out to be true or not with regards to Falcao’s transfer listing at Monaco, it will certainly challenge some ‘mercenaries’ thoughts when it comes to where they end up. With the financial problems at Anzhi Makhachkala, and Nicolas Anelka and Didier Drogba returning from China after the money did not appear, the landscape of players going for the money will change. Players will become more aware that whilst they might be getting promised untold millions on papers, actually getting that money over the length of the contract is a different story.

He would certainly solve Arsenal’s problems upfront, and provide a big boost to fans morale, which has hit an all time low.

Keenos Follow @KeenosAFC