A lot has been made about the Arsenal transfer budget, some believe the low figures being touted and call it ridiculous, others, like myself, do not accept what is being reported by the media and believe it is higher but whoever is right there is one thing that we can all agree on and that is whatever the budget you have, you have to spend it wisely.
Look at Man Utd, they have spent hundreds of millions over the last three seasons and they are in a worse condition than what we are and then you have a team like Ajax that is very economical with its spending and barely missed out on the Champions League final.
You can have hundreds of millions and still not be guaranteed success if you do not acquire the right type of player and having a limited budget does not have to be a handicap in that quest.
Let’s stick with United and Ajax for a minute, back in 2017 these two fought the Europa League final, two years later the Red Devils are back in the Europa League and Ajax win a domestic double and school Juventus and Real Madrid and the overriding reason for that is how each club respectively conducted their transfer business.
For perspective, Ajax over the last four seasons spent £115 Million in total and Man Utd £560 Million.
Now, let’s look at three teams that some believe are more on our level these days, Wolves, Leicester City and Everton, it is a myth they do not spend significant amounts of money, they do.
Wolves spent £101 Million last season, Leicester spent £103 Million and Everton spent £90 Million. For the record we spent £73 Million and in comparison had a far better season than those three, and of that trio only Wolves qualified for Europe next season.
And of course, Tottenham spent nothing over the last two transfer windows, though they did have a strong base to start with.
Now, there are exceptions, Man City splashed out in excess of £700 Million over the last four seasons and PSG £670 Million though neither have been able to get close to winning Champions League.
The point is simple, money really is secondary when it comes to transfers, the most important aspect is that you can identify top quality players at a bargain price and to do that you need a top team overseeing those transfers, something Arsenal has not had in years.
Even with £40 Million or whatever it is there is no reason why we cannot buy the required quality to challenge for the top-four next season, there is evidence on top of proof mounted on fact that a small budget is not enough to stop you being successful but incompetence is.