Arsenal are set to make Gonzalo Higuain the club’s highest-paid player once a transfer fee is agreed with Real Madrid.
As Standard Sport reported last week, the Gunners are in pole position to land the 25-year-old striker after Juventus cooled their interest after a £18.7million bid was rejected.
Negotiations are taking place between Arsenal and Real, with the London club offering about £20m for Higuain and Real holding out for £25.5m.
While the two parties are yet to settle on a compromise — expected to be in the region of £22m — the player’s personal terms are not expected to be a problem.
Reports suggesting Higuain’s contract have been agreed are premature but the Argentina international has indicated he would be willing to accept wages in the region of £125,000 a week at Emirates Stadium.
That figure would take him beyond Lukas Podolski, Theo Walcott and Jack Wilshere as Arsenal’s highest-paid player and is a signal of the club’s intention to remodel their wage structure this summer.
Arsenal’s previous record transfer fee was the £15m paid to Zenit St Petersburg for Andrey Arshavin in 2009 and the Russian’s release frees up £95,000 a week in wages.
Sebastien Squillaci and Denilson have also left the club this summer, with Andre Santos and Marouane Chamakh likely to follow, allowing manager Arsene Wenger to redistribute wages.
Wenger is keen to land Higuain before Arsenal’s players return for pre-season on July 4, not only as encouragement to his squad that they can compete for silverware but also to allow Higuain plenty of time to integrate with his team-mates before the new season.
