To be perfectly honest, I will not be holding my breath for any big name Arsenal signings in the run up to and during the January transfer window. If Arsene Wenger could not find any players that he wanted to sign or that were available this summer, what chance is there of one dropping into his lap just a few months later.
However, there will be an increased amount of pressure on the Frenchman to splash the cash, after the latest Arsenal financial figures were released and published on the Arsenal website today. The numbers for the year 2014/15 show that both turnover (£329.3m) and profits (£24.7m) were up on the previous year and that has got to be good news.
Well it would be good news if the money was put back into the playing staff in order to give the team a better chance of competing to achieve the success of a Premier League or Champions League trophy. Instead is always seems that the Gunners just put it on top of our already massive pile of loot.
The figures show that the club’s cash reserves have now risen from £173.3 million to a massive £193.1 million and that does not include the reserves kept aside for debt payments in case of any problems. So the revelation from the Arsenal board member Lord Harris of Peckham that Wenger had around £200 million to spend if he wished appears to be pretty close to the truth.
This has to beg the question, once again, of why the Arsenal boss seems so reluctant to spend big money on transfers. Yes players may be overpriced but then you could say that Premier League clubs are overpaid and fans are overcharged, so just flippin’ deal with it and spend some bleedin’ cash will you Arsene?