Arsenal have proposed to their players that they will not have to take a pay-cut for losses incurred by the club during the coronavirus crisis should they qualify for the Champions League - if and when the current Premier League season resumes.

The proposal is believed to have been a non-starter with many of the squad who currently sit five points and four places off Manchester United in fifth, currently the last Champions League spot given Manchester City’s Uefa suspension from the competition.

The Telegraph understands that the measure was put to Arsenal players this week as the club tried to negotiate a pay cut – the like of which has so far proved impossible for any of the Premier League to agree with their squad.

Arsenal are by no means assured of a Europa League place next season, let alone one in the Champions League for which they last qualified for in 2016 for the following season. The club’s wage bill, annually £230 million, has been a problem since they dropped out the elite competition with director Josh Kroenke, son of owner Stan, describing it as “a Champions League wage bill on a Europa League budget”.

The club reported losses of £27.1 million in February and they are reliant on matchday income for up to 25 per cent of their revenue, the highest proportion of any club in the top 25 of the World Money League, compiled by Deloitte. Any pay-cuts proposed to Premier League squads are being opposed by the players’ union, the Professional Footballers’ Association who says their members should only be asked to take wage deferrals - which are the basis of agreements struck at Southampton and West Ham.

Arsenal’s position is complicated by the postponement of their game in hand against Manchester City which means the pair as well as Sheffield United, currently seventh, have played one game fewer than the rest of the top ten. A spokesman for Arsenal said that nothing had yet been agreed by the club with its players.