Arsenal’s team spirit is being tested by the growing pay divide among the players.

The club have traditionally operated a relatively equitable pay structure among their first-team squad, which Arsène Wenger has often described as being based on a “socialist” model. That was shattered by their dealings in the January transfer window, though, with the arrivals of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan and the award of a new £350,000-a-week contract to Mesut Özil.

Arsenal’s players held a constructive meeting without Wenger last Tuesday and remain determined to arrest their decline, starting with the first leg of their Europa League round-of-16 tie away to AC Milan tomorrow. However, The Times has been told that there is growing resentment in some quarters towards the big earners, who