Former Manchester City player Joey Barton believes that Alexis Sanchez deserves to be paid more than Manchester United’s Paul Pogba. The 27-year-old Chilean forward has been in contract negotiations with Arsenal for months but they seem nowhere close to a conclusion even now, with his contract expiring at the end of the season.
However, Barton believes that it is only right that he is holding out for a substantial hike in his pay package as the forward has been outstanding for Arsenal since his arrival. He has been exceptional so far this season and has proved to be one of the standout performers of the Premier League.
In Arsenal’s previous league game against London rivals West Ham United, he scored a second-half hat-trick in the space of 15 minutes.
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Considering his stellar form, Barton is insistent that the Chilean deserves to be paid much more than the likes of Pogba, whose importance to the club is yet to be proven. Sanchez has come through for the Gunners repeatedly and deserves every penny that he may be demanding in his new contract.
The ex-QPR player fancies himself quite the expert on the going rate for top-class football players and said:
“Sanchez will know, or his agent should know, exactly what the going rate is. Your Pogba money, your Gareth Bale money and the (Cristiano) Ronaldo deal at Real Madrid recently. I’m not saying they are in that bracket but in this moment in time, Sanchez is better than Pogba.”
While the English midfielder doesn’t equate Sanchez with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, he definitely feels that the Arsenal man is more deserving than United’s midfielder.
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“He’s not better than Ronaldo but he’s better than Pogba so his agent should be pitching for somewhere in the middle,” added Barton.
However, Sanchez isn’t even the highest-paid player in Arsenal’s roster. That honour goes to German midfielder Mesut Ozil. Currently, Sanchez is on a weekly pay packet of £130,000 while Ozil is paid £140,000 a week. On the other hand, apart from Pogba’s ludicrous transfer fees, his weekly wage is a whopping £290,000, more than double of what the forward makes at present.
Maybe Arsenal should sit up and take notice of what Barton said with the likes of Chelsea waiting to swoop in with a deal for the Chilean especially since they have the money to lure him away.
