Mikel, Osaze’s wages to be frozen

The take home package of Super Eagles and Chelsea midfielder John Mikel Obi, teammate Victor Moses, West Brom ace Osaze Odemwingie and other Nigerian players in the English Premier League (EPL) may not be increased for some time to come, following ongoing discussions by English club owners to reduce expenditure and increase profit.
A communique on the talks which is featuring Chelsea owner Roman Abrmovich and other EPL bosses is expected to be out November 15 according to the British tabloid, Daily Mail.
The new proposal is thought to be a reaction to the impending £5billion Premier League TV deal, which the owners apparently want a bigger slice of.
According to reports, the new rules would not allow teams to increase their overall wage budget by over five per cent a year.
It is also alleged that the club chiefs want teams to be forced to break even.
West Ham chairman David Gold reportedly wants to go a step further and take away points from teams that don’t.
‘We need to regulate spending, reduce debt and ensure profit — and quickly,’ Gold told the Huffington Post.
‘We have to stop clubs running up debt or we’ll have an even more desperate situation.
‘We can’t have clubs running with large percentage of debt against their turnover.’
Other top bosses including Manchester City owner Sheik Mansour and the Glazer family, who own Manchester United, are all thought to be keen on the new proposals.
The new rules would run in conjunction with UEFA’s fairplay legislation, which will also try to curb club spending.
Premier League clubs had a total outlay of £1.5bn on footballer wages in 2010-11, which was nearly three quarters of their total income.