Liam Cooper’s wage packet at CSKA Sofia has been revealed, after he moved to this week, following the expiry of his Leeds United contract earlier this summer.
Top Sport cover the defender’s transfer today and comments from Sofia manager Alexander Tomas on how he convinced the player to move.
The outlet first reports that CSKA announced the ‘much anticipated’ transfer of the ‘star signing’ of Cooper yesterday, with him becoming their 12th signing of a busy summer.
According to their information, the arrival from Leeds has ‘raised the bar’ in terms of wages at the club, which had been kept relatively under control until his arrival.
He will be the highest earner at the club, with reports starting that he will earn around €750,000 a year. He even turned down offers from Blackburn and Hull City to accept the deal.
While those wages are high it is a comedown from what he was earning at Leeds United, where he was reportedly earning €1.3m a year.
It seems Sofia are more than happy to be paying that figure, though, with everyone very excited about the move, including manager Tomas.
He played his role in the whole affair, revealing how he had managed to convince the player into the move from Leeds.
“In the years that I have been a head coach, there has been almost no player that I have spoken to before bringing him in,” he said.
“With Liam, I had four or five conversations on camera because energy is a very important thing. The whole club helped to convince Liam to accept this challenge.
“A difficult decision because throughout his career he has been in the mecca of football. I have explained to him what I want as a coach.
“For me, it is more important at this moment to have a footballer whose qualities may not be “wow”, but who has character.”
