Arsenal are in for an expensive summer with their aim to sign Declan Rice for a club-record fee only the start. There remains interest in other expensive players like Moises Caicedo and needs in defence and creative still to be sold with significant investment needed to secure the targets they want.
However, this mega-spending that has been happening at the club for some time is not expected to be the norm in the future. In fact, according to the Evening Standard, Stan Kroenke wants Arsenal to succeed but to do so while remaining a ‘self-sufficient’ club.
Now, I imagine that many Arsenal supporters might shudder at seeing those words, perhaps even emotions of frustration and even anger might begin to bubble. I can empathise with that, the Gunners have come so close to a title and now as they’re looking to go one step further, talk of economic sustainability is back? No!
Well, actually, yes. Hear me out, and take a look at what Manchester City did in the summer of 2022 before they went on to beat Arsenal in the title race and lift their fifth Premier League trophy in six years.
Looking at the balance sheets, they turned a net profit in the market despite signing Erling Haaland, Kalvin Phillips, Manuel Akanji and Sergio Gomez. They were able to do so after selling Raheem Sterling, Gabriel Jesus, Oleksandr Zinchenko and others.
A season won on a profit margin in the window. Now, this is the first time that this has happened at Man City since 2005, and the Citizens finished tenth.
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However, summers in which Man City make a slight loss, break even or make a profit are expected to become far more common. The past decade has been used to spend big on a squad for Pep Guardiola that is the best in the world and capable of swapping out players between games without seeing much, if at all, of a dip in the quality on the field.
While Arsenal might have had a starting eleven on track for 90-plus points, they didn’t have the squad for it and when key cogs in the machine had to be swapped out, things began to malfunction and they stuttered and lost the title. Arsenal are aiming to better compete next season and signings like Rice and potentially Caicedo are sure to help them.
Ideally, the Gunners need five or six additions of starting quality to push the existing stars. But next summer, this cannot be the case and if it is, it will be because the plan this summer did not go to plan.
Looking at what Man City have been doing in the market lately since 2018, they have been adding one to three starting additions to their squad; with a smattering of cheaper younger stars for the future who either flourish like Julian Alvarez or leave having never made a splash like Pedro Porro, Ko Itakura and Ante Palaversa.
Arsenal from 2024 should be looking to do the same. Remaining competitive at the top but with their large pool of young talent and only a need to replace players in the squad with the reinforcement taking place this summer.
Charlie Patino is expected to leave permanently this summer. football.london understands this is due to timing and with interest in adding Declan Rice and Moises Caicedo after having already signed Jorginho six months prior it is easy to see why.
But future starlets coming through shouldn’t need to befall the same fate with talent being given the chance to sink or swim. Much like Phil Foden and Rico Lewis have at Man City.
The other area that needs to flourish for a self-sufficient model to be successful is player sales. Edu Gaspar and his transfer team are under pressure to secure much-improved sales prices for departing stars.
Eyes are on Kieran Tierney and Folarin Balogun in particular who are both being linked with big-money exits. However, there are plenty more financial assets that could be going through the exit doors.
football.london understands that Granit Xhaka is expected to move to Bayer Leverkusen with a figure expected to be around £13m. Nicolas Pepe, Albert Sambi Lokonga, Nuno Tavares, Auston Trusty, Arthur Okonkwo, the aforementioned Patino, Rob Holding and Cedric Soares are all potential departures.
Pablo Mari has already secured a move to Monza after the Italian side’s Serie A survival triggered an obligatory purchase clause in the Spaniard’s contract. There is money to be made and, moving forward, future sales need to bring in good money too.
It is not difficult to imagine Eddie Nketiah, Emile Smith Rowe, Reiss Nelson, Fabio Vieira, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Matt Turner seeking more minutes at other clubs and should they then the Gunners need to get good money. Just like Man City have with both Zinchenko and Jesus.
Combine the squad being reinforced efficiently this summer, improvement in player sales reputation, the renewal of young stars like Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and others plus a regular placing in the top four competing with Man City and other elite sides for title and self-sufficiency does not need to be the purgatorial, lack of ambition to challenge that it used to be under Arsene Wenger’s financially restricted latter tenure.
It can be, as Man City are showing, a successful, prosperous and very enjoyable thing. Arsenal just need to get it right and do it effectively.
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