Southampton will be deferring player salaries for next three months due to pandemic

Premier League club Southampton have likely started a trend that will continue throughout the professional soccer world.

The organization confirmed that they have agreed to a deal with their players that will defer 10% of their salaries for April, May and June due to the financial instabilty caused by this coronavirus pandemic. They also assured staff members that choose not to defer their salaries will still receive 100% of their salaries during this time.

The club explained the specifics in a statement:

“Our owners…have put measures in place to ensure that all staff not deferring part of their salaries will continue to receive 100% of their pay, paid in the normal way until June 30…Any decision on the future beyond this date will be made in advance of this, but only when more information is known.”

This comes just days after reports suggested Premier League clubs have lost an estimated £1.6 billion of their value due to this virus.