AS Roma want Arsenal to help pay the wages of Henrikh Mkhitaryan even if he leaves on a permanent deal, according to a report.

ESPN report that AS Roma want Arsenal to pay a portion of the £180,000-a-week wages they have Henrikh Mkhitaryan on to complete a permanent move.

Arsenal are holding out for a £10m transfer fee, and they’re still in negotiations over that. However, it seems Roma aren’t even happy to pay the player’s wages themselves. They want a wage top-up, at least until the end of his Gunners contract in 2021.

According to the report, no other clubs are in for the 31-year-old at this time.

Realistically, this is too much to ask. If Roma can’t afford to pay Mkhitaryan’s current wages, they need to ask him to take a cut. That should be a reasonable thing to request, particularly in the current circumstances.

It may still prove financially beneficial for Arsenal to accept and pay a small portion of the wages, though. If the alternative is paying his salary in full for the next year and letting him go for free in 2021, this is preferable.

It’s just a bit cheeky for Mkhitaryan to expect the same wages in full whilst clubs around Europe are in huge financial difficulties and the only one in for him doesn’t want to pay those wages.