‘Sanchez better than Pogba, deserves wage parity’
Alexis Sanchez deserves to be paid at least the same as Paul Pogba as he is “better” than him, according to Joey Barton.
Sanchez remains locked in contract negotiations with Arsenal, with his current deal expiring in 18 months’ time.
The Chilean is thought to be demanding a similar wage to that of Manchester United midfielder Pogba, who earns a reported £290,000 a week.
Chelsea are monitoring the situation with a view to making a shock move, but Barton insists that Sanchez is worth the hit for Arsenal.
“I think a lot of these negotiations are off the back of mega TV deals where players – the Sanchezs and [Mesut] Ozils – are actually saying: ‘We’re the people who people pay to come and see, we need to be paid in proportion,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“It’s just market forces. Sanchez will know, or his agent should know exactly what’s the golden rate – your Pogba money, your Gareth Bale, you’ve seen the [Cristiano] Ronaldo deal at Real Madrid recently.
“I’m not saying he’s in that bracket, but he’s certainly, at this moment in time, better than Pogba. He’s not better than Ronaldo but he’s better than Pogba and his agent should be pitching somewhere in the middle.”