The basic wage sits at £300,000 a week and rises to about £375,000 once his performance bonuses trigger. Over the full length of the deal, Saka’s guaranteed pay reaches close to £80m before add-ons, an annual basic of £15.6m that lifts to £19.5m with the bonus schedule.

The extension runs through 2031 and closed a negotiation that had run for close to a year. Saka had already verbally committed by the turn of the year, and the formal signing followed in February.

No one else at the Emirates earns more. The deal broke Arsenal’s previous internal ceiling and lifted Saka into the small handful of Premier League players operating on genuine top-tier wages.

From academy to top of the payroll

Saka came through the Arsenal academy and has now spent seven seasons in the first team, close to 300 senior appearances into a career that began as a teenager. The new contract is the club’s formal acknowledgement that the winger, still only 24, is the piece the whole project is built around.

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Erling Haaland remains in a category of his own at Manchester City on a basic of £525,000 a week, on a contract that runs all the way to 2034. Saka’s number is significantly lower but places him alongside the Premier League’s second tier of earners, and above every one of his own team-mates.

The league’s wage landscape has also thinned. Mohamed Salah left Liverpool at the end of last season after eight years and has signed a two-year deal with Trabzonspor. With Salah gone, Saka enters 2026-27 as arguably the most recognisable homegrown attacker in the Premier League and the biggest single asset at the reigning champions.

First silverware of the title defence

Arsenal ended a 22-year wait for the Premier League title in May, and the Community Shield is the first fixture that puts silverware back in play.

Kick-off against FA Cup holders Manchester City is at 3pm local time at Principality Stadium on Sunday, the fixture back in Cardiff for the first time in two decades.

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Arteta’s champions travel with Saka as the most recognisable name in their squad and, for the first time, the best-paid player at the club.

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