Arsenal's crown jewels Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez have reportedlyhit an impasse in their contract renewal talks, over theclub's unwillingness to match their lofty wage expectations.
The duo have 18 months remaining on their current deals and theStandardreports that both want their weekly wages doubled and soto be comparable with that of the Premier League's top earners (Manchester United trioPaul Pogba, Wayne Rooney and Zlatan Ibrahimovic) at around £280k per week.
Sanchez and Ozilearn between £10-20kless per weekthan Arsene Wenger's£160k wage, and Wenger and the Arsenal hierarchy have been previouslyreluctant to sign off on deals that arehigher than the manager's.
The report speculates that the Gunners may shift their perspective somewhatfor the key pair and maybe willing to offer new contracts worth closer £200k per week, in order to keep the stars happy at the Emirates and to deter the host of European giants, including Manchester City, who aremonitoring the situation.
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Both players have been in fine form this season as Arsenal sit second in the Premier League table.
Ozil scored in the 1-5 rout of West Ham, meaning he has now scored more in London than he did for Real Madrid in fewer games, while Sanchez's hat-trick in the same fixturehighlighted his status as one of the league's deadliest players.
The Chilean is the division's joint-top scorer along with Chelsea's Diego Costa having been converted to a central role by Wenger this season.
If Pogba is worth £89m then Sanchez is easily worth £500m+
Despite complications,Arsenal remain hopeful of getting to pen to paper on new long term deals for their prized assets.
However, whether they will succumb to the demands of parity with league's top earners will be settled in the coming weeks.