Skint Arsenal can pay half Ozil’s weekly wages with FA Cup win over Man Utd… and land huge windfall for reaching final
The winners of tonight's huge clash with pocket a tidy £180,000 and qualify for the last 16
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VICTORY for skint Arsenal tonight will see them net a tidy £180,000 - but that will only cover half of Mesut Ozil's weekly wage.
The out-of-favour German bumped up his pay packet to a mega £350,000 per week when he signed a new contract a year ago.
Arsenal are of course unable to make any signings this month due to a lack of available transfer funds and are reliant on securing loan deals before next week's deadline.
The £180,000 reward for victory in this weekend's FA Cup fourth round may seem a drop in the ocean for the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City.
But for non-league Barnet, an upset at home to Brentford in their London derby could be the difference between people keeping their jobs or not.
Arsenal of course host Manchester United at the Emirates in the standout tie of the round.
And it could be a chance for Ozil to prove himself to Unai Emery, who so far has been unconvinced by the German playmaker.
Ozil has not featured since Boxing Day, when he was dragged off against Brighton at half-time, and Emery left him out of the squad for the defeat at West Ham despite being fully fit.
He did return to the bench for the victory over Chelsea last weekend, with Aaron Ramsey deployed as the No10, but was an unused substitute.
While Ozil stayed at Arsenal last January, Alexis Sanchez left for Old Trafford on a £505,000-per-week deal.
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It is safe to say he has not justified his wages with his performances over the last 12 months.
And it would take a quarter-final victory for the Red Devils to earn enough prize money to cover Sanchez's wages.
A fifth-round win is rewarded with £360,000 - just enough to cover Ozil's weekly wage - before £720,000 is the prize for winning in the last eight.
Then the windfalls start falling: the two losing semi-finalists go home from Wembley with £900,00 and the two winners get £1.8million.
Obviously there can be only one winner come FA Cup final day in May but the beaten finalists will get another £1.8m as some consolation.
Win the FA Cup, though, and as well as the jubilation of climbing the steps and lifting the trophy, clubs net £3.6m.
But as we all know, for most it is all about the magic and nostalgia of the FA Cup rather than the money.