New York State

Arsenal have added two new names to their list of potential attacking targets in the transfer window, including Aston Villa’s Mogan Rogers.

The Gunners are determined to bolster their forward line during the close season after they left themselves desperately short of goalscoring options last season.

Injuries to Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz effectively ended any hope Arsenal had of sustaining their Premier League title challenge.

Reinforcements are certain to arrive in the coming months with their options at centre forward likely to boil down to Benjamin Sesko and VIktor Gyokeres.

Arsenal looked at signing Rogers’ Villa teammate Ollie Watkins in January but baulked at the £60million valuation.

According to The Times, Arteta’s attention has now switched to the more versatile Rogers who has enjoyed a stellar rise over the course of the last 18 months.

The 22-year-old joined Villa from Middlesbrough in a £15million deal after he had taken the decision to leave Manchester City.

Rogers has since established himself as a senior England international and decorated Villa’s run the quarter finals of the Champions League.

Who is Igor Paixao?

Persuading Villa to part with one of their prize assets will be a tall order though and with that in mind Arsenal are also keeping tabs on Feyenoord’s Igor Paixao.

The 24-year-old would command a modest transfer fee compared to the likes of Bayern Munich’s Leroy Sane and Athletic Bilbao’s Nico Williams.

Paixao mainly operated on the wing for Feyenoord, scoring 16 goals and contributing 14 assists in the league, and was named Dutch Footballer of the Year.

Why haven’t Arsenal signed anyone yet?

While the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool have made rapid starts to their summer transfer business, Arsenal have kept their powder dry.

Despite his worrying public denial earlier this week, a deal is understood to be in place for Martin Zubimedni with the Spain international set to join in the next few weeks.

New sporting director Andrea Berta has a jam packed todolist to get through which includes negotiating contract renewals for a number of key players.

Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Magalhaes are both expected to sign fresh terms, while youngsters Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly will extend their current deals on improved terms.

As for further reinforcements, Berta is said to prefer to negotiate several deals for the same position simultaneously, before deciding which to activate.

It is a risky strategy, but one that Arsenal would have been aware of before they hired the former Atletico Madrid transfer chief.

High-street chain Games Workshop, which sells tabletop miniatures and wargames, gave its employees a treat last month, to the tune of £18 million.

The company – which has 1,500 staff at its Nottingham headquarters and thousands more in offices and stores around the world – handed each of them a bonus payment estimated at £6,500, citing a year of strong sales and profit growth.

‘We put people first and invest in them for the long-term,’ it said on its website. ‘Our remarkable people work hard, support one another and strive for quality above all else.’

As modern workers continue to demand more than just a salary from their bosses, an employer that sweetens the deal like this has a better chance of attracting (and keeping) talent.

So, if you’re on the job hunt right now, Metro has rounded up a selection of UK firms that share the wealth.

Greggs

Greggs is a staple part of British culture. But it’s not just iconic products that the fast-food bakery chain is known for. Among those who work – or have worked – for the company, it’s also famed for offering some pretty generous perks.

As part of its mission statement, the chain has promised to distribute 10% of its annual revenue – which amounted to £203.9 million in 2024 – among colleagues.

This meant its 33,000 employees shared a record £20.5 million bonus this year. And while everyone who had worked at the chain for at least six months was entitled to the payment, those with more than six years’ service who worked more than 20 hours a week were awarded an extra £850 extra as part of the scheme.

Additionally, Greggs increased its pension contributions to 7% in 2025, up from 6% last year.

Chief executive, Roisin Currie, said at the time: ‘Our people have worked tirelessly to deliver on our strategic ambition to further establish Greggs as a multi-channel food-to-go retailer, and I want to acknowledge their efforts.’

British Airways

Cabin crew and ground staff at British Airways were gifted a profit-sharing bonus this year, as part of the new three-year pay deal that provides a 10.5% wage increase for thousands of employees.

Alongside an immediate pay rise, the airline’s entire workforce now benefit from the scheme (previously reserved for senior managers and pilots) which includes a minimum bonus of £1,000 and a maximum of 4% of their salary, tied to BA’s annual operating margin.

In a recent ballot, this updated scheme was supported by 86% of British Airways staff.

Emirates

Just last month, Dubai-based airline Emirates – which counts 2,779 British nationals among its 120,000 employees – revealed it would be offering staff a share of its record £4.56 billion annual profit.

The initiative will see each worker get the equivalent to 22 weeks of basic salary as a bonus, marking a significant windfall for many.

It’s not the first time the carrier has been noted for its generosity either: these payouts are an ongoing thing for Emirates, which has dished out up to 24 weeks’ wages per person in previous profitable years.

Rolls-Royce

After recording profits had doubled to £1.1 billion in the first half of last year, Rolls-Royce thanked its 42,000 workers worldwide (21,000 of whom are UK-based) with the equivalent of £700 each in shares.

The engineering giant announced that each staff member would receive 150 shares, with their total value coming in at £30 million.

Tufan Erginbilgic, CEO, told employees: ‘These results have been made possible thanks to your hard work and our collective actions… It is therefore important that you share in our success.’

According to its 2024 full-year results, posted in February, the company is now due to pay out dividends of 6p per share within the coming months.

Barclays

Another employer going down the route of ‘bonus shares’ is Barclays, which awarded its 90,000 staff members a stake in the company worth around £500 back in February.

Following a rise in profits, the bank awarded 170 Barclays shares to each worker (excluding its most senior level), in an effort to ‘to thank them and better align their efforts with shareholders’ interests’.

Employees will have to retain their shares until 2026 – when the company concludes its three-year financial plan – which group chief executive CS Venkatakrishnan hopes ‘will enable all colleagues to benefit tangibly from the firm’s progress,’ during that time.

While this is a one-off move for Barclays has made such a move, it offers a range of additional incentives such as aligned employee and executive director pay, and was named in Linkedin’s top 10 UK employers for 2024.

Childbase Partnership Ltd

Childbase Partnership, which operates 44 nurseries across England – has been 100% employee-owned since 2017 — the first Early Years organisation to adopt this model in the UK.

As such, every colleague within the company is a ‘partner’ and receives an equal tax-free Dividend Payment when the business has a successful year. Past payouts have ranged from £750 to £3,000 per person, with the total split equally between staff (irrespective of job title or hierarchy) depending on the number of hours worked.

On top of this, partners who’ve worked there for over 15 years are rewarded through long-service dinners and events, bonus cash payments from £500 to £3,500, and an extra paid week of annual leave in milestone years.

Schuh

Footwear retail company Schuh has a long history of sharing profits with employees. In 2011, when Tennessee-based Genesco Inc. bought the company for £125 million, staff received a £37.3 million piece of the pie.

Then, in 2015,3,500 workers lucked out when they received profit-related bonuses totalling £25 million.

The amount each person got was dependent on their length of service and salary: for example, a full-time store manager on a wage of £34,000 received £14,000, while a sales advisor with five years of service at £14,000 a year was awarded £3,000.

While big bonuses such as the above don’t seem to have happened since, Schuh still has some attractive qualities for employees, including a free pair of shoes each year and your birthday off.

Riverford Organic Farmers

Not into corporate life but still want to own a stake in a business? Riverford Organic Farmers, an organic farm and vegetable box delivery company, has been employee-owned since June 2018.

In 2023, the company became 100% employee-owned when founder Guy Singh-Watson sold his final 23% of shares.

The company is also an Employee Trust, which means all staff (known as co-owners) receive equal benefits as well as an equal percentage ofannual profits.

This year, the Devon-based firm announced it’d be sharing a £1.3 million payout with over 1,000 staff — meaning workers would receive around £1,000 each.

Enhanced maternity and paternity pay is also offered, alongside flexible working options and a referral bonus.

John Lewis

John Lewis is perhaps the most well-known example of a 100% employee-owned company. The John Lewis Partnership means all workers are ‘Partners’ and part-owners of the business.

Previously, the John Lewis bonus scheme meant employees were equally distributed around 10% of all company profits. However, in 2025, the scheme was suspended for a third consecutive year after the business decided to invest in other areas. This is despite profits rising by 73% to £97m last year.

It’s not all doom and gloom for workers, though. Instead of the bonus, the retailer focused on increasing employee pay by 7.4%, along with redistributing earnings to make improvements to stores and supply chain.

Chairman Jason Tarry said he was ‘determined to pay a bonus’ as soon as possible, but that ‘will depend on where we are at the time.’

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