Wenger to resist any wage-cut moves

ARSENE WENGER insisted that Arsenal would not indulge in the same wage-cutting moves as Manchester United as the club attempt to resolve the futures of four first-team players.

Wenger revealed that Sol Campbell would accept an overall pay reduction from next season as he is no longer entitled to the huge signing-on fees due in the wake of his free Bosman move from Spurs.

However, Campbell will continue to be one of the Premiership’s highest earners, with Arsenal trying to ensure the 30-year-old’s signature on a new deal by offering him at least another three years.

“Sol will make some sacrifices to stay with us, but we can compensate for that by giving him a longer period of contract,” said Wenger.

Campbell is nevertheless one of four first-team players with whom Arsenal are in various stages of talks as their contracts expire at the end of this season. The others are Lauren, Edu and Jermaine Pennant, while Wenger will leave it until the end of this season to decide whether Dennis Bergkamp should be given another year’s deal.

Edu represents perhaps Wenger’s biggest challenge, given that the Brazil international is looking for a regular first-team place and is said to interest Barcelona.

“We have not progressed. That is the worry at the moment as we need his commitment. My feeling is that he wants to stay but he wants to play regularly,” said Wenger.

The Arsenal boss nevertheless insisted the Gunners would not be looking to reduce the salaries of their key players. United revealed at their recent AGM that they would be moving to deals with an increasing proportion of salaries being related to performances and results.

Arsenal have, traditionally, not paid as much as United, even if Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry are, like Campbell, among the top earners in English football.

However, when asked if Arsenal would now follow suit, Wenger insisted: “No. We are generous and we want to remain generous.

“If you are an isolated case, you have no chance. If I offer a player £500,000 (€715,000) basic and £500,000 on performance, but someone else offers them £1 million (€1,430,0000) straight away, where will the player go?”

Wenger has already organised his next signing, with 21-year-old Ivory Coast international Emmanuel Eboue set to join from Belgian club, Beveren, with whom they have close links.

“He played with us at the start of the season and he will be joining us in January,” said the Frenchman.

“He is a multi-functional player. He can play centre-back, right-back or in midfield,” he said.

Wenger is, however, not looking to bring in another central midfielder in January, even though he is now facing something of an injury crisis. Campbell may have returned to training yesterday after his calf injury, with Wenger targeting a return for his centre-back against Liverpool next week.

However, not only is Edu still out with a broken toe, but Gilberto Silva will be missing at least until the new year with a back injury.

Wenger said: “We don’t have good news with Gilberto. We had a check of his back and the bone hadn’t grown between his vertebrae. The distance of the fracture is still the same. So we have had to rest him for six more weeks and we have sent him back to Brazil. He cannot even do small work. He has to rest completely.

“When he comes back, it’s not sure that he will be capable of playing. We don’t think it’s career-threatening but it is season-threatening.

“If his bone has still not completely grown together in the next weeks, we will have to give him three months.”

Wenger insisted that it is “more of a short-term problem as I count Edu and Mathieu Flamini to be good candidates.”

However, Flamini is now out with a knee problem and that places greater responsibility on 17-year-old Cesc Fabregas, who will start today’s game against West Brom.

“He looks quite fresh at the moment as I gave him a good breather a few weeks ago. We will have to rest him again in a few weeks’ time. At the start of the season, I thought he would play 15 to 20 games. He is nearly there already.”