Arsenal have posted the third-highest transfer deficit in the Premier League over the last decade, new data shows.
Thanks to new figures released by the CIES Football Observatory, the Gunners' transfer activity since the 2012 summer window has been put into perspective and once again outlines the problem the club has when it comes to selling players to balance the books.
In this period Arsenal have spent a total of €1029bn on the likes of Thomas Partey, Nicolas Pepe, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette, Mesut Ozil, Benjamin White, Shkodran Mustafi, Granit Xhaka, and William Saliba.
However, they have recouped €446m (£377m) on sales which gives them a total deficit of €583m (£492m).
The list of departures includes Aaron Ramsey, Ozil, Alexis Sanchez, Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Mustafi who have all left without the Gunners receiving a single penny.
This worrying trend under owner Stan Kroenke continued in the most recent January transfer window with Aubameyang agreeing to a mutual termination of his contract which allowed Barcelona to sign him for free.
Furthermore, with Lacazette's contract expiring at the end of the season, there's every chance Arsenal won't receive a transfer fee for a player whom they spent £46.5million on in the summer of 2017.
That's over £100million in transfer fees spent alone whilst not getting anything in return except for saving a few million pounds on wages.
Meanwhile, if Mikel Arteta and Edu opt to sell Pepe before his contract expires in the summer of 2024, it's unlikely they will recoup the £72million transfer fee which means the Gunners are in store for yet another loss.
With that said, the north London outfit's net transfer spend is not the worst in the Premier League.
As seen in the image above, Manchester United lead the way with a total deficit of more than one billion euros having spent big on the likes of Paul Pogba, Romelu Lukaku, Harry Maguire and Jadon Sancho in the past decade.
Just below them is Manchester City who have recorded a loss of €984m (£832m).
From the data, the Gunners may want to take a leaf out of Chelsea's book as despite the Blues also spending more than a billion euros since the 2012 summer transfer window, they also earned a similar amount.
Even with Tottenham Hotspur having a negative balance of €336m (£284m) over the past decade, they have still managed to recoup almost twice as much - €677m (£572m) - as Arsenal in transfer fees.
Whereas across Europe's top five leagues, Arsenal come in at fifth behind Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona.
Both clubs have been responsible for some of the biggest transfers over the past decade with Neymar swapping Spain for France in a world record £222m move, whilst deals for Ousmane Dembele, Antoine Griezmann and Philippe Coutinho largely explain the Catalan giants' spend of more than one billion euros.
It should be noted that the data revealed by CIES has been 'gathered with the greatest care through the cross-checking of all possible sources, whether official or unofficial, the data includes eventual add-on fees included in the deals, regardless of their actual payment.
'Within the limits of available information, incomes deriving from sell-on fees are also taken into account.'
But given the strict self-sustaining model that Arsenal work to, it's clear the club must improve when it comes to player sales if they are to avoid being in the top-five across both tables in 2032.
