The Arsenal head coach’s contract runs until the end of next season, so if Arsenal want to get rid of him before then, they’re going to have cough up, but how much do Arsenal have to pay to sack Unai Emery?
When Unai Emery first arrived at Arsenal it was reported that his contract contained a break clause that would allow the club to terminate his deal at the end of this season if things weren’t working out. That turned out to be untrue according to David Ornstein.
I bet they wish they’d thought of that now.
When he arrived in London, Emery was awarded a contract worth £6m-a-year, £2.3m less than Arsene Wenger was on when he finally left the club.
For those who like their salaries in weekly amounts, that’s £115k-a-week, making him the fifth highest paid behind Mesut Ozil, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette, and Henrikh Mkhitaryan and just slightly ahead of Hector Bellerin.
How much do Arsenal have to pay to sack Unai Emery?
Given that he earns £6m-a-year, the Daily Mail report that the club would have to pay out at least £4m if they want to sack him before the end of the season. His staff would also be entitled to compensation if their contracts were terminated at the same time, which they would be to make way for a new team.
Sami Mokbel and Adrian Kajuma, however, also repeat the information about the break-clause that Ornstein has already said doesn’t exist, stating Emery signed a two-year deal with only an option for a third.
Ornstein, as we know, is more reliable just about every other journalist out there when it comes to Arsenal, but even he admitted he could be wrong (although that seems unlikely).
If there is a clause or option then Emery could be released for free at the end of the season.
Either way, the problem seems an easy one to solve.
Pay £4mish now or risk losing tens of millions by ending up in the Europa League again while also losing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette and Lucas Torreira just to keep Emery for a few more months and avoid a payout.
In fact, when it’s all looked at like that, £4m is the bargain of the century.