Aubameyang receives £50,000 for every Arsenal match he starts and they win

Arsenal made a series of extraordinary payments to bolster Arsene Wenger's failing squad with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang arriving on deadline day in January.

In a desperately poor negotiating position, they agreed to pay the Gabon international a remarkable £18.2m on top of his £198,000-a-week salary when signing him from Borussia Dortmund.

Aubameyang's list of extras included a £15.15m loyalty bonus, split into four instalments, to be paid before the end of his contract in 2021, £300,000 for 25 goals and assists in a season (he has 13 so far) and £50,000 for every Premier League match he starts which Arsenal win. They have managed five since his arrival, earning him an extra £250,000.

However, perhaps the most remarkable detail in Aubameyang's Arsenal deal relates to his 'Champions League bonus' of £2.26m — which the striker will receive even though Arsenal failed to qualify for Europe's elite club competition.

The revelations are part of a cache of contract information, obtained by the German news magazine Der Spiegel and published in the book Football Leaks: Uncovering The Dirty Deals Behind The Beautiful Game and published by Sportsmail, reveals the extraordinary add-ons Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and the two Manchester clubs have been willing to pay in their desperate pursuit of supremacy.

Despite Arsenal's woeful away form condemning them to a sixth-place finish in the Premier League, Aubameyang has impressed with nine goals and four assists in 12 league appearances for the club so far.

The add-ons in Henrikh Mkhitaryan's Arsenal salary are equally extraordinary, considering his struggle to prove himself at Old Trafford before January's swap deal with Sanchez.

His basic £144,000-a-week pay will rise to £240,000 a week if Arsenal trigger an option to extend his deal. There was also a £8.65m 'loyalty bonus' on signing for the London club.

Extracted from Football Leaks: Uncovering the Dirty Deal Behind the Beautiful Game, written by Der Spiegel reporters Rafael Buschmann and Michael Wulzinger, published by Guardian Faber in the UK on 24 May @ £12.99.

Copyright © Rafael Buschmann and Michael Wulzinger 2018, translation copyright © Jefferson Chase, 2018.

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