MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) - With the best paid footballers in the world, billionaire club owners, under-pressure politicians and even a millionaire trade union leader involved, it is perhaps hardly surprising that talks on a blanket wage cut in the world's richest league have yet to reach an amicable conclusion.
But what is worrying for those hoping to find an end to the deadlock in negotiations is that the two main sides -- the clubs and the players, appear to be talking about two entirely separate issues.
The clubs say they need to reduce their wage-bill, temporarily, to help them cover their outgoings at a time when they have massively reduced income. The average monthly salary of a Premier League player is around 240,000 pounds with the top-earner, Manchester United's Spanish goalkeeper David De Gea, making a reported 1.5 million a month.
"It's that if their money is being affected, they want to know what's happening with it, and they would like to have the choice of where it goes to." After the most recent round of talks, the PFA even argued that a pay-cut for the players would actually harm the NHS as it would reduce their tax contributions.
There appears to be more willingness from the players to accept wage deferrals but, union sources say they would need to see financial information from clubs and guarantees that the withheld wages would be made up later.
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