How Arsenal splashed the summer cash

The authoritative Swiss Ramble looks at how Arsenal have been able to splash the cash this summer, Much more information and detail on his Substack page.

The Gunners splashed out a hefty £282m net, which was just ahead of Liverpool’s £268m. Both clubs spent a lot more than every other club, with the next highest being around £100m lower, namely Manchester United £183m and Tottenham Hotspur £178m.  To further underline the size of the outlay, this was not only the highest net spend in England, but also worldwide this summer.

Unlike the other big spenders, Arsenal only recouped £9m from player sales, the largest fees being for the deals taking Nuno Tavares to Lazio for £4m, Marquinhos to Cruzeiro for £3m and Albert Sambi Lokonga to Hamburg for £300k.

In fact, only newly promoted Leeds United made less from player sales than Arsenal’s £9m this summer.  In stark contrast, Chelsea generated a massive £288m from player sales.

One reason that Arsenal were able to spend so much this summer was their restraint last season.  Their £13m net spend in 2024/25 was firmly in the bottom half of the Premier League, miles below surprising big spenders like Brighton £238m and Ipswich Town £157m, but more meaningfully also a lot less than Big Six rivals, Manchester United £135m and Tottenham £132m.

That said, it is evident that there has been a major shift in Arsenal’s transfer policy, as the Kroenkes have authorised a much larger outlay since they assumed full control of the club in August 2018, when they bought out Alisher Usmanov’s 30% stake.  As a result, in the last five years (up to this summer), Arsenal have splashed out a cool £1.1 bln on new players, which is around two-thirds more than the £676m outlay in the preceding 5-year period.

Arsenal’s heavy investment in their squad has also led to a significant increase in their wage bill, which has surged £116m (54%) in the last two years to a massive new club record of £328m, by far the highest growth of the Big Six in this period.

However, even after this significant growth, Arsenal’s wage bill was still lower than the rest of the Big Six, with the exception of Tottenham. In particular, they were a fair way behind Manchester City £413m, Liverpool £386m and Manchester United £365m.

Arsenal have over-performed their wage bill in the last couple of seasons, i.e. by finishing second with the sixth highest wage bill in 2022/23 and fifth highest in 2023/24, but it is an uphill challenge to do that on a consistent basis.

A hint that Arsenal might have had to box clever to stay within the various financial regulations was the way that they structured the deadline day signing of Ecuadorian defender Piero Hincapié from Leverkusen. This was completed via a loan with conditional obligation, whereby both clubs have an option to trigger a permanent deal.

Thanks to the improved performances on the pitch, especially the return to the Champions League, Arsenal’s revenue has surged to an all-time high for the club, rising by £245m (66%) in the last two years from £369m to £614m. Moreover, this increase was across the board, as all three revenue streams set new club records. 

Arsenal’s commercial revenue has significantly grown in the last two years, rising £76m (54%) from £142m to £218m, as part of “a new commercial strategy”.  This was the fastest commercial growth of the Big Six, though Arsenal was still the lowest in this group for this revenue stream, far below Manchester City, Liverpool and Manchester United, who all generate more than £300m.

it does seem quite likely that Arsenal will get quite close to £700m revenue in 2024/25 – and maybe even break through that barrier if the Swiss Ramble has been overly conservative in his assumptions.  This substantial revenue growth goes a long way in helping to explain why Arsenal felt they could spend so much this summer.

So will Arsenal have any problems complying with the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability Regulations?  In short, no, at least not for the foreseeable future.

Going forward, the Uefa  squad cost control ratio is probably the one that will give Arsenal most problems, though these would diminish if the club manages to get its act together for player sales. Even if Arsenal were to fall foul of the squad cost control ratio, the fine would not be that big a deal.

Kroenke has been one of the more generous owners in the Premier League recently, as his £334m funding in the five years up to 2023/24 was the fifth highest, only behind Chelsea, Fulham, Aston Villa and Everton.

Arsenal’s squad depth is now second to none, so they have put all the pieces in place to increase the club’s chances of securing some silverware, though, as always, the proof of the pudding will be in the eating.