Finance guru, Kieran Maguire, has revealed that Arsenal had no choice but to defer the next payment from Derby County for the 2019 transfer of Krystian Bielik.
The midfielder joined the Rams after they struck a transfer agreement with the Gunners, which would see them pay for his move in several instalments.
They have now entered administration following a poor management of their finances.
The Telegraph revealed earlier in the month that Arsenal has agreed to allow Derby to defer their next payment of £1.4m.
That fee would have helped the Gunners add some money to their coffers, however, the financial analyst says by delaying it for a year, the Gunners are also helping themselves because forcing a club into administration to pay them because it is due would have opened up a can of worms.
The administrators are now hoping to sell the club soon and a new owner should help them pay Arsenal’s money by next year.
“I think Arsenal are being pragmatic here,” he told Football Insider.
“The administrators don’t have the money and you can’t enforce a pre-administration debt during a period of administration.
“So they effectively had no choice. What they have done is fine, but they could only have got bad publicity if they’d tried to enforce the payment.
“A football club owned by a US billionaire picking on a club in dire straits, that is not good look.
“There is, of course, an element of self-interest in all of football. HMRC are not happy with the football creditors rule.
“They ask why football clubs should get 100 per cent payment when they historically have been unsecured?
“There has been a change in legislation, but my understanding is that HMRC would like to take it further so the tax man has preferential status and football clubs are relegated to unsecured status.
“If Arsenal had tried to enforce the payment, that could have opened a can of worms in terms of giving HMRC a route to address this issue.”
I CAN SEE THAT CLUB DEBT IS NOT A SUBJECT THAT ATTRACTS MUCH FAN INTEREST.
But it did attract you