West Ham United are said to be bracing to deal with a wave of unhappy players demanding wage increases after the club’s punishment of Kurt Zouma had an unexpected consequence.
Zouma has been fined £250,000 by the Hammers and has had his cats taken away from him by the RSPCA after he was filmed kicking and slapping them.
The defender has been at the centre of a storm this week after The Sun got hold of footage, which was filmed by his brother, showing Zouma hurting his pets inside his house.
West Ham manager David Moyes faced criticism for playing Zouma in the team’s 1-0 win over Watford on Tuesday night – and now the incident appears to have sparked another problem.
According to the Daily Mail, West Ham players have been angered to discover that Zouma is the club’s top earner, on £125,000-per-week.
The 27-year-old joined West Ham on a four-year contract in a £29.8million move from Chelsea in the summer, but his team-mates were in the dark as to how much he earned.
That secrecy has now been broken by widespread reports that Zouma’s £250,000 fine equated to two weeks’ wages.
Forwards Michail Antonio and Andriy Yarmolenko are understood to earn in the region of £100,000-per-week inclusive of bonuses.
Meanwhile, the report states that key players like Declan Rice, Tomas Soucek, Pablo Fornals and Vladimir Coufal, are on ‘significantly less’.
The revelations could reportedly bring about a ‘mutiny’ over wages, with West Ham set to be inundated with players asking to sign improved contracts.
That could spell problems for the east London club financially because the Zouma furore has also had an impact on sponsorship.
While Zouma himself has lost his Adidas deal, West Ham have been rocked by Experience Kissimee and Vitality suspending their relationships with the club.
Meanwhile, Heineken UK, West Ham’s beer and cider partner, said it was "appalled" at the video and welcomed the actions the club was taking.
"The club is supporting an RSPCA investigation,” West Ham said in a statement.
"Kurt and the club are cooperating fully with the investigation and [he] has willingly complied with the steps taken in the initial stage of the process, including delivering his family’s two cats to the RSPCA for assessment.
"Kurt is extremely remorseful and, like everyone at the club, fully understands the depth of feeling surrounding the incident and the need for action."
Zouma’s brother, Yoan, who filmed the video which was leaked to the media, was suspended by his club, Dagenham & Redbridge, on Thursday.
"The club has decided that until the RSPCA has completed its investigations, Yoan will not play for Dagenham & Redbridge in any competitive match," a statement read.
"Any further action deemed necessary to be taken will be made at the conclusion of the RSPCA investigation."
