Arsenal chief receives 24% pay increase

Ivan Gazidis earned a staggering £2.15 million last season - a 24 percent increase on the previous campaign - for his work as Arsenal's chief executive, it has been revealed.

According to The Sun, this is one of the highest amounts ever paid to a chief executive in English football and amounts to the almost the same figure received by all Chelsea directors last term.

Gazidis succeeded Keith Edelman at Arsenal over three years ago and inherited many of the duties left behind by departed vice-chairman David Dein, who had appointed Arsene Wenger in 1996.

The fee received by the 48-year-old was made up from a basic salary of £1.366 million, bonuses totalling £675,000, pension contributions at £100,000 and a further £9,000 in benefits.

Some would argue that Gazidis' salary is justified giving the consistently impressive financial results posted by Arsenal, with most recent figures revealing that the Gunners made a pre-tax profit of £36.6 million during the last campaign.

This was, however, significantly added by the sales of Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas to Manchester City and Barcelona respectively.