Henry 'paid Up to £10m' in Last Arsenal Season

Thierry Henry received a seven-figure signing-on fee in his final season at Arsenal that financial analysis of the club's accounts estimates to have been as high as £5m. The Arsenal Supporters Trust has conducted a review of the amortization and player-registration costs in the club's six-monthly accounts to last November. That analysis points to the existence of a substantial one-off sum having been paid in 2006.

If the trust's calculations on the extraordinary item are correct, the former Arsenal captain picked up more than £10m in wages and fees in his last season with the club. That would make him considerably the highest-earning player in a single season in the history of English football, a campaign in which he made 17 Premier League appearances.

Henry had been vacillating about whether to remain at the club after its departure from Highbury. So the fact that the seven-figure signing-on fee was made up front and not over the course of his three-year contract is likely to have influenced his decision to stay, made on the eve of Arsenal's Champions League final defeat to Barcelona.

Twelve months later, though, Henry made the switch to Camp Nou. Central to that transaction was Darren Dein, son of the former Arsenal director in charge of football contracts, David Dein. It is believed that the award of an up-front payment to Henry for his signing-on fee contributed to the rancor between Dein Sr and the rest of the board in the lead-up to his departure 12 months ago.

Mourinho keeps mum

Media planners have all had the same idea for Tuesday's Champions League semi-final between Chelsea and Liverpool. Jose Mourinho has been bombarded with television and newspaper requests to provide his analysis of the game but is refusing all applications because he does not want to talk about Chelsea. Recent comments attributed to him in UK media were taken from an interview conducted by a Portuguese biographer 12 months ago.

Tennis taxed by UK

The prime minister has made his "golden decade for sport" a mantra but the UK government is still prone to giving sporting interests a raw deal compared with other countries. The immigration service has adopted the Australian points-based system for UK entrants so far without including the athletes' exemption that exists down under. Now the Treasury is also playing hardball. The All England Club has conducted a survey of more than 30 nations hosting major tennis tournaments and only five of them make the players submit a tax return. Only two of those countries make the players pay tax on their endorsement income: the US and the UK. Since a large proportion of ATP and WTA tour players are based in the US it would seem perfectly reasonable to make such demands there, but most spend little more than a fortnight in Britain so the Revenue's stance makes less sense.

Bookies to pay up

One area where sport is making progress in its talks with government is with the introduction of a tithe to be paid by bookmakers for anti-corruption programs. Armed with recent research highlighting integrity risks, the sports minister, Gerry Sutcliffe, has confirmed to parliament his demands for "voluntary contributions" by the bookies. The subtext of the word "voluntary", though, is the threat that the lucrative fixed-odds terminals allowed in the high street will be taken away.

IPL incurs wrath of Khan

The Indian Premier League begins tonight but the billion-pound wealth being generated by the concept will not enable the teams to make a profit, according to Shah Rukh Khan, the Bollywood superstar owner of Kolkata Knight Riders. He has been angered - among other things - by stadium taxes. "To tell you the truth we are probably the only team that may be able to break even," he told the Times of India.