[LFC1892]

Is Freddy worth 70k per week? I know Bellamy isnt, but isnt Ljungberg half the player he once was?

Ljungberg wages stumbling block to Fiorentina transfer

By Jason Burt

Published: 12 July 2007



Fredrik Ljungberg is close to agreeing a £5.5m move to Fiorentina - although there is a major stumbling block over the Arsenal midfielder's wages. The 30-year-old Swedish international has been told he can leave, after nine years at the club, but the Italians do not want to pay the £70,000 a week he earns at the Emirates.
They are prepared to pay a straight transfer fee for Ljungberg after initially offering the Danish defender Per Kroldrup in exchange. However, Arsenal are believed to have indicated they had little interest in the former Everton player. As part of the negotiations it's understood that Fiorentina, whose delegation arrived in London on Monday, are trying to negotiate sponsorship deals to try and make the four-year contract they are offering more attractive to Ljungberg.
The Swede, who was offered to West Ham United in January, is keen on a move to Italy if he leaves Arsenal where his first-team opportunities have become limited. The transfer funds - plus the freeing up of a lucrative contract that still has two years to run - will help Arsène Wenger's re-building plans. Arsenal are close to announcing the £7m acquisition of right-back Bakary Sagna, from Auxerre, and are still mulling over whether to trigger the £13m buy-out clause in the contract of the Newcastle United striker Obafemi Martins.