Young players should be rewarded with games before money

Back in 2012 I wrote a piece on the rumours of Ox getting an increase in his salary from around £20k to £50k and why I felt that after just 12+12 appearances, mostly in the cups, that was premature talk. His energetic substitute appearances were the basis for this increase but I couldn’t help wonder why he wasn’t just being rewarded with more game time – we should make football about football for our younger players before we make it about money. Now, in 2016 we seem to have a more responsible approach to wages and a structure that by and large rewards influence, ability, success and importance. Our younger players are paid handsomely for their talents and they can clearly see the rewards earned by more experienced players and have something to aim towards – if money is indeed one of their primary motivations.

Reports surfaced today that Alex Iwobi is set to be handed an increase on his £850 per week salary taking him up to £10,000 per week. I think this is a bad idea but before I get on to why I want to say that if contracts are being handed out the first person who should be getting a raise is Özil. His contribution and importance to the team this season warrants an improved deal. It is rumoured that Alexis and he will be getting bumps up to £170k per week from their current £140k. Mesut certainly deserves his, I’m not sure about Alexis but I wouldn’t argue against a new contract – it won’t make much difference to some but for what it is worth Theo was never on the same salary as them with his most recent contract taking him to £110k.

Alex Iwobi has not had what I would call a breakthrough season. He has put himself in contention for a regular spot, that cannot be denied, but for me a breakthrough season is what Bellerin had last season. Now, if the available information is correct, Hector is on £10k per week. As fantastic as Iwobi was against Barcelona and Everton and indeed in his sporadic cup and sub appearances throughout the season he is not on Hector’s level when it comes to influence and importance. The argument there should be that Hector is vastly underpaid and that £10k for Iwobi is nothing to a club like Arsenal and I agree but it is not the financial reward that doesn’t sit well with me.

As I said, I believe young players should first be rewarded with more football. We have 8 games left this season and the focus for Iwobi, and I’m sure it is as any money talk will be dictated by his agent, should be on being involved in all of those games. If he does that then he will have forced himself into the manager’s plans for next season. At the moment he is still a young player who is being slowly introduced to the first team. Next season he will be a bona fide first team Arsenal player. Next season will be his breakthrough season. It will be the season he makes himself indispensable and that is when he should start to see Premier League wages.

I don’t think he should be kept on £850 by any means, if rumours are true then Bielik is on £2k and that’s just not right if we have a meritocratic wage structure. I think he should definitely get a salary bump but £850 to £10k is much more life altering than £10k to £50k.

£10k a week to a young kid with no responsibilities is probably more than he can spend anyway and at such a young age he won’t be thinking too hard about retirement plans or investments. So, when he jumps up to £50k which he will do within 2 years anyway he’ll just have a hell of a lot more money that he isn’t spending. At 19 years old £850 in a week is probably more than a lot of his peers get working in retail or catering but it doesn’t buy cars or qualify him for London rate mortgages – although most players tend to live near St Albans for the training ground which isn’t much less expensive.

The leap from £850 to £10k overnight could have an adverse effect. Suddenly he’s more liquid than he has ever been in his life. He has more money going into his bank account in a fortnight than most of the kids he grew up with will earn in a year. Money is a strange thing and it has its influence over us all – how we cope with that is something we can only answer when the time comes. Could all the politicians raiding welfare and cutting subsidies left, right and centre survive on £90 per week?  I’d wager a few could but most wouldn’t. It would be so alien to them.

The reverse is true. Could someone cope with becoming relatively affluent overnight? Lots of lottery winners say getting all that money was the worst thing that ever happened to them. I know from life experience, growing up in a poor 1.4 kids household, that some people can’t cope with having a lot more disposable cash. Two of my siblings live week to week and constantly complain about it but whenever they get their heads above water they get silly with their money. These are extreme examples based purely on anecdotal evidence but there’s plenty of examples in football of players getting paid too much too soon and it, to varying degrees of severity, ‘ruining’ their careers. That’s my worry for Iwobi.

He could be the most clued up, straight as a die kinda guy but until he gets that money no-one can predict how it will affect him. That said, I think he definitely deserves a new contract and I think by this time next year he could be on £20k per week and have totally earned it and then some.

I just feel that the best course for Arsenal, when it comes to managing and rewarding young talent, is to stage their increases and reward them with more football. There’s so many ways a contract could be structured to incentivise good performance and keep players hungry whilst still giving them the so called ‘market rate’. Players have clauses in their contracts for extra years or bonuses once they reach a certain number of appearances so it would be quite straightforward to do the same for Alex. Of course, injury is a concern for all players and if he got a long term one on a low salary he could miss out on those bonuses but that’s what insurance is for and there’s always a way around it. Diaby managed to make £60k a week from the treatment room….

Iwobi has exceptional potential but as per usual we’re making far too much of him far too early. He is an entertaining player and when he is on the ball he excites the crowd which is fantastic but he is far from the finished article. What he needs is games. He doesn’t need to have more money than he knows what to do with just yet. It’s a strange causality that I’m sure to get picked up on but I don’t think it’s a coincidence the best players in the world tend to have grown up around actual or relative poverty. I think there is a correlation between relative impecuniousness and effort in training and on the field. The players who work the hardest, in most cases, tend to be the ones who have made it a habit. Alexis works hard despite being incredibly affluent because it’s a habit. It’s programmed into him. If he was earning £10k a week aged 19 would he have become the player he is today? Who knows. It’s impossible to say and this is all one big hypothetical.

I think my biggest gripe with this is all is that the figures are being quoted now, straight after two stand out performances. If this was the summer and he had played an important part, or even just a part, in the remaining 8 games then I would support the increase 100%. Right now it just seems premature.

Any 19 year old footballer worth his salt would swap the chance to sign a £10k a week contract for a season as a key first team player at a club like Arsenal and that is what I think the clubs have forgotten. I don’t blame players one little bit for earning what they do or accepting what is offered. They do have short careers and as much as I think some of the wages are disgracefully high I have no problem with the players taking it. I would take it. We all would. The clubs have to take responsibility for allowing it to get to this point though. They are the ones who are making football about money for young players when it really shouldn’t be. When you’re 22-23 and you know you’ve only got 10 years left then sure, I’ve no problem with players going all out mercenary but by that point you’d have thought they had proven their worth with performances made from love for the game.

Football is becoming increasingly detached from its roots and drifting away from real life and maybe that is really what this is all about. I can’t really say but I can say that such an increase, so early in his career doesn’t sit right with me. If this story had never broken today but instead had cropped up the day after the final day of the season I’d probably have a completely different view.

For now however, my stance for Iwobi and all young players is; reward them with games whilst the football is still what they love about it before you start turning their heads with bags of cash.

Thanks for reading! Please comment on this post, subscribe by email, share with friends and follow me on twitter (@thedanielcowan). Please check out the official NLIR Facebook page http://facebook.com/northlondonisredblog for news, views, freebies and more. 

Don’t forget to tune into the funniest Arsenal podcast around “Goonersphere Podcast“