Arsenal have BIG money and vow to spend it

The latest financial figures released by Arsenal Football Club showed that the Gunners made another profit in the year ending this May, although the size of profit is down on the previous year, from around £37 million to £7 million. It is nothing to worry about though, especially with the new commercial deals the club will have from now on. The figures, revealed on Arsenal.com, also reveal that the Gunners had a sizable cash reserve of around £120 million. This was before the club record signing of Mesut Ozil, but still means that Arsene Wenger is likely to have a very large transfer war chest available to him, and the chairman suggested that the manager would be allowed to spend it. Sir Chips Keswick said, “It is my job to continue along the course we have set. “We must continue to grow commercially to provide the Club with the best opportunity to achieve success and we must do this in a way which remains true to our values and which ensures and protects the long term sustainability of the Club. “We face a competitive landscape across the top of the Premier League and across Europe’s elite clubs which is tougher than ever. Despite fair play initiatives, the financial competition for top players remains intense and transfer prices and player wages continue to move ever higher. “It is therefore positive that the strong financial platform we have created in recent years allows us to continue to be competitive at the highest level.” So in essence, that means that Arsenal are not going to spend more than they can afford, which is about as surprising as the sun coming up in the morning. However, we will spend the money we have got and we have enough to compete for the top players, so that has got to be good news. Another thing the figures show is that the annual wage bill had gone up by 8 percent to over £150 million, but a lot of players were released this summer, while just four were brought in, so that should have gone down and made more available for new signings in January and next summer. It is great news that the Gunners are in such good shape financially, and that we seem to be prepared to spend it on top class players. So Wenger, who is it to be?