Arsenal fans, I can already hear you venting.
The 2015-16 Premier League runners up have signed Granit Xhaka, Rob Holding and Tasumo Asano this summer but many fans and pundits believe Arsene Wenger’s side is still short of a top class center back and a predatory striker.
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Well, bad news. It doesn’t seem like major cash will be splashed this summer.
Speaking in California ahead of Arsenal’s game against the MLS All-Stars on Thursday, chief executive Ivan Gazidis revealed that the Gunners’ transfer policy is not going to change.“We can’t afford to outgun competitors that have far more money. We have to be very careful, very selective,” Gazidis said. “We would not be successful if we simply went out into the transfer market and tried to outgun our competitors.
“We’re run in a self-sustaining way, and a way that we believe in, because we believe it gives us certainty for the future and enables us to plan our future with confidence. That means we can’t afford to make huge mistakes in the transfer market. We can’t afford to outgun competitors that have far more money to splurge on transfer fees than we do. So we have to be very careful, very selective about how we do things.”
Arsenal lost out on the Premier League title to Leicester City last season which infuriated their fans mostly because in a campaign where Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea all struggled they couldn’t seize their best chance in a decade to win the title.
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Yes, the Gunners have spent big to bring in Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez and Xhaka in recent years but compared to the spending of United, City, Chelsea and even Liverpool this summer, they are miles behind.
When all is said and done you have to admire the business Arsenal has become with the Emirates Stadium a beacon for their success. However, just as we saw last season during the second half of the campaign, fans will protest as they are desperate to do more than see their team finish in the top four every season and then bow out in the first knockout round of the UEFA Champions League.
Unless Arsenal’s prudent model of spending changes drastically, you really can’t see them challenging for the UCL title and being favorites to win the PL. It’s that simple.
Wenger gets a lot of abuse for apparently not spending the cash at his disposal but after comments like this from Gazidis it is clear that the club isn’t going to hand him vasts amounts of cash.