Arsenal’s dressing room unsettled by Mesut Ozil, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

Arsenal’s decision to break their wage structure for Mesut Ozil, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has caused friction in the dressing room, according to reports.

Ozil signed a new contract at the start of February to become the highest-paid player in Arsenal’s history on £350,000 a week. Arsenal also bolstered their squad with the signings of Mkhitaryan and Aubameyang in the January transfer window, and both players are earning considerably more than their new teammates.

According to The Times, there is ‘growing resentment’ in the dressing room as some members of Arsenal’s squad believe the trio are not justifying their large contracts.

The report also claims that tensions at Arsenal have been made worse as other players are looking to sign new contracts, but have no chance of being placed in a similar wage bracket to Ozil, Mkhitaryan and Aubameyang.

Jack Wilshere will need to accept a pay cut in order to extend his deal with Arsenal which is due to expire at the end of June.

Aaron Ramsey will still have a year remaining on his contract this summer but The Times report that Arsenal have made no progress with his new deal. Danny Welbeck, however, insists there is no divide in Arsenal’s dressing room after a run of six defeats in their last eight games.

‘There’s no split in the camp. I didn’t even know about that story until now,’ he told Sky Sports News.

‘I’ve not really seen much of the criticism. I can imagine it’s not been great because with the results and being at Arsenal, it’s not good enough so it’s not something where I’ve sat down and read through newspapers and stuff but we know we should be doing much better than where we are.

‘But I think if we stand together as players, as a team with the manager and the staff and everyone involved around the club, then unity will make us stronger.’