Gini Wijnaldum (CM) - PSG

1 Like

So Thiago and Grujic should have the same wages because they both play CM? Billy the Kid and big Virg? Does age, experience and quality not come into discussion before playing positions?

Obviously he wants to make as much as he can at this stage of his career. You couldn’t begrudge him that. However I would think anyone looking logically at football would see Barcelona as a football wasteland. Players go there to disappear from football. Gini is a steady player. Not a superstar. Barcelona want superstars who they then destroy.

1 Like

Being a worker alone is not a protected class. Unfortunately.

1 Like

Would it if you worked in ASDA doing the same job? And who mentioned Grujic?

It’s easy to see some of the unique circumstances around what a footballer should be paid. First and foremost, quality. Prem pays more than Championship, upper Prem pays more, world class pays more. Quality is a massive factor. Age and experience are too. You might be very good indeed at 18, but it won’t be the most you will ever be paid if you keep working hard. But if you relax and think you have made it, it might be your peak. But all things going well your next contract will be bigger as you will have proved yourself more. And what about commercial value to the club? Maybe you are a large reason why 500M Muslims tune in? That has value.

To me it is very simple. Good employers and good employees tend to find one another in an open and free market. If you aren’t that good of a player you aren’t going to Liverpool. Equally, if Liverpool doesn’t do right by its world class players, they will leave and we might slip back.

When a top player plays at a top club on great money it is usually because their interests have converged. I’m a believer that the market sorts all this out, if we let it work.

Gini in particular is finely poised. Not because we are stingy - we would like to pay him more, and give him a new deal; but at the same time he is weighing his options and the remainder of his career. He might sign a new deal very soon, he might leave this window, or he might stay on current terms to the end of his deal and utilize the leverage afforded to him on a Bosman.

It’s just football, it’s fairly easy to sort, and we navigate the waters better than most.

Not necessarily, it could depend on years of service and often the same job can have different pay scales within the same grade level

3 Likes

We can’t discount the cost of the invisibility cloak he wears during matches which the club probably picks up the bill for,can’t be cheap that kind of technology.

8 Likes

Which club or player are you referring to???

Mané? Salah? There are a number of players who follow Islam, I believe.

1 Like

Salah has 12m follower on Facebook, 40m on Instagram and 13m on Twitter.

Of course there are millions of fans who started following us because of him.

8 Likes

Do you remember when he first came to us? He immediately won the player of the month where fans could vote online. AS Roma responded congratulations Salah with winning September oh and with Oktober, November, December… :sunglasses:

3 Likes

@RedOverTheWater @Kopstar @GermanRed

I don’t think that’s correct. The religion or ethnicity of a player don’t dictate which club someone will support. Do you suppose there’s a guy who supported Fiorentina, Chelsea, Roma and now supports Liverpool because he is a Muslim and have been following Salah? Do you suppose we have lost some potential supporters by choosing Jota instead of Sarr???

We have more Muslim fans because of Salah and Mane,it helps that they do tremendous amounts of charity work off the field and are very high profile Muslims,it’s a great thing btw.

13 Likes

The part I highlighted ===> Yes I think there are MANY that will be following us now rather than Fiorentina, Chelsea, and Roma due to the fact that Mohammed Salah is here.

In the same way, I am sure there are many more Japanese fans of Liverpool with the signing of Taki (who I think could have a very good year).

Similarly, I follow Dortmund in large part because they have had young Americans at their club. I started watching them because of Jovan Kirovski, but I’ve stayed as I enjoy their club and fans, and the way they bring in newbies. It’s just a bonus that Pulisic was there and now Reyna.

There are many reasons why people will support certain clubs - and because a certain player was there is definitely one of them. Granted this happens more often for fans that are not local or have a history with a given league.

For me, I follow Liverpool because I fell in love with them back in the 80s.

8 Likes

Not because he is a Muslim but because he’s a massive fan of Salah. Salah is worshipped by football fans living in Egypt and also across many mostly Muslim African and Arabian countries. He has a huge following, most of whom are Muslim. The majority follow him as an individual, as opposed to a particular club. They’re likely to have Roma and Liverpool shirts with his name on that they bought during the period he played for them. We certainly weren’t followed by supporters in mostly Muslim countries to the extent we are now before we signed the likes of Mané and Salah.

10 Likes

I had no player in mind… just illustrating some of the factors that might make player x worth more money than player y. The point is not so much 500M Muslims, wasn’t intending to get stuck on that number or even the religion part. Similar factors might be because Mo Salah is at Liverpool, we are the ‘go to’ Premier League team for millions of his countrymen? That sort of thing.

Some players have a high profile and it helps their club by association. Some players might have 10M+ social media followers, and might be considered far more influential than others.

Just a general discussion on why players are not worth the same.

Quality, performance, age, experience, profile/commerical pull, etc. These are all factors why one might be paid more than another.

4 Likes

This is a good point further validated by @indianscouser and @Colossal_centre_back having become Reds fans because of my Bombay roots.

8 Likes
12 Likes

Huh. I thought you were from Mumbai.

4 Likes