English Premier League giants Arsenal have informed that their executive team have volunteered to take a cut of more than a third of their salary to help the club overcome the financial stress to some extent after the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a stoppage of football across Europe and the globe.

The Gunners had endured a loss of 27 million pounds for the 2018-19 season and are likely to experience a more hefty deficit this season as the United Kingdom remains under lockdown to contain the deadly novel coronavirus and the fate of Premier League’s return hangs in doubt.

“The potential financial impact is significant so we must be responsible and act now to best protect Arsenal from what might happen in the months ahead. What is clear is that this is one of the most challenging periods in our near 134-year history,” Arsenal said in a statement.

“Our executive team volunteered to waive more than a third of their earnings over the next 12 months,” the club added.

Meanwhile, to soften the economic blow, the Premier League clubs have already asked the players to take a combination of pay cuts and deferrals amounting to 30 percent of their salary.

Reflecting on the issue, Arsenal informed that they are in talks with their players and have highlighted the ongoing financial crisis to them but revealed that no official agreement has been reached.

“Over the past 10 days we have been in discussions with them around the potential financial challenges ahead, and how we are planning for those now,” the statement added. “These are productive and ongoing conversations around how our players might support their club in an appropriate way.”

However, despite the financial concern the London-based club have refused to utilise the UK government’s furlough scheme for their employees and are reportedly paying the non-playing staff their complete salaries.

Several Premier League sides like Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Bournemouth have asked their employees to register on the furlough scheme owing to their incompetence to pay everyone.

Meanwhile, the Premier League have extended the suspension of the 2019/20 season beyond May and said it “will only return when it is safe and appropriate to do so” amid the deadly outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.