PICTURE: Arsenal's net spending in Premier League era
Arsenal’s net spending in the Premier League era is £32 million, the 11th lowest since the league began.
The table below represents the clubs per season net spend on purchasing players from the beginning of the Premiership season 1992/93 to date.
Purchases is the total spent on buying players, sold is the total received from the sale players and net is Purchased minus sold giving a total of the money spend on players.
So far in the 2009/10 season, Arsenal have made a £31,000,000 net profit from the sales of Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure to Manchester City.
Thanks to TransferLeague & Orbinho for this.
64 Comments
Interesting if you take the 80 million for Ronaldo out of Man Ure’s incoming, which is reasonable as only Real are fucking dumb and well backed enough to spend that amount.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZ……………..
How much does a season ticket cost?
Arsenal fans pay more than any other set of fans in england.
Shows our share holders are stingy buggers.
If the current share holders cant finace the capital expenditure, let some new shareholders come and put some money in. We know it is diluting, but at least even thou your share of the arsenal is diluted the value of your holding is sure it increase….
stupid share holders and stupid/bline arsenal fans who have been brain washed with this prudnt theory….,WHAT NEEDE IS NOT DEBT BUT EQUITY( SHARE HOLDERS MONEY)
I really hope the moaning, want Wenger out crowd are paying close attention to those figures.
Before screaming about how much we should buy Cana and Loris they should take a second to think about the work that Wenger has done.
Based on finances, we should be 11th in the league and not fighting for the league with 5 games left. Clearly work still needs to be done and Wenger will continue to do just that.
Awful, awful display by the team on the weekend but please let us not lose sight of what this club is working towards on the budget that we can afford.
For gods sake Birmingham and Fulham have doubled our net spend. If Arsene Wenger is doing a bad job then Birmingham should be winning the Champions League.
okayplayer: I’m not sure The Roots would be a big fan of your sense of entitlement! In all seriousness though, fucking hell dude, we go to the best stadium in the world to see a very exciting team, one of the best 8 in Europe and getting better, especially with money starting to really be available to spend. It’s not such a big fucking deal.
Apart from Chavs, Citeh & long ball Villa who are all “sugar daddy’s clubs”, all the other major clubs who spends big are all suffering from debt. Man Uintit & scouse are the prime example.
Arsenal are the only club in a healthy debt situation. Wenger has done good job with the tight budget and are constantly challenging for all the major trophies. They may not have won anything for 5 years. But the fact that they’re up with the very best challenging for trophies is mark of a World class manager and a Brilliantly controlled club.
I’m beginning to understand what the term ‘customer’ means, the posts I’ve been reading over the last couple of days are defineatley not from ‘supporters’ (check the dictionary). Two weeks ago all the talk was of ‘we’re’ gonna win this or that, now it’s all of vitriol and blame. These prawn sandwich ‘customers’ make me sick.
The figures you post (thanks) are testimony to the best manager we’ve ever had, his brilliance and the responsibility he has heaped on himself has made the board’s job much easier and allowed them to take the club to another level.
These ‘club level’ morons would be moaning if we were the biggest spenders and are moaning that we’re not. I’m very proud of these figures and appreciate my money’s not wasted.
Football will change, and come the time that clubs’ will have to be self-supporting as it still is supposed to be a competitive sport, the chelski’s and the citehs (who knows next year it could be blackpool), will crawl back under the rock they came. Wenger and Arsenal will be lauded by the fickle fans we now seem to attract.
funny lot us…we should be proud that with this sort of net spending we have achieved more than chelsea and pool and in fact UTD have achieved more than us…Make no mistake am frustrated and angry too, but everything must be taken to perspective and one has to remember arsenal shareholders do not take out the profit ..it goes into the club like building one of the finest stadiums in world football..plus after AW invested money and time on the youth he had to give them a proper chance to prove if they are good enough..if not for the youth policy we will not have cesc, ramsey, RVP et al..yes some are poor but over time it will change be patient
Chelsea have over 11 times net expenditure as us and have got through nine managers in the premier league period and have won two titles, and four FA cups. Whilst with Wenger we have won three titles and five FA cups. Not to mention we now play in the best stadium in London (Wembley? HA.). The realities of our football club mean that we cannot afford to act like these other clubs and the genius of Wenger is that he has devised an ethos through which we can compete anyway.
Yes the season tickets and regular tickets are the most expensive in the country, but when you have a well run board rather than a oligarch run board with bottomless pockets or a board who relies on £700million of debts money heeds to be raised this way. We are the most financially secure team in England’s top flight, we halved our debt this season and soon will be organically rich in real terms, rather than being in debt and artificially rich. The future is bright.
It’s really nothing to be proud about
Mean lean great point made
I back Wenger and his policy but i think wenger will buy this summer especially after the comments on arsenal.com.
Arsenal dont need alot of payers just a few. I really hope Wenger makes szczensy our number 1 i think hes the best goalkeeper we have got and could be the best in the world
I have no doubt over the financial acumen of our esteemed manager, whom I’m sure the commercial success will one day be translated to additions to our trophy cabinet.
My concern is whether he is so engrossed towards the light at the end of the tunnel that his vision may somewhat be impaired by the puddle of murk that’s right in front of him.
It is a weakness that can befall even the greatest of men.
When we as staunch supporters have to bear witness to the abysmal performance of these so-called footballers groomed & picked by Wenger himself you have to forgive me for my slight disappointment at Wenger, not for his noble intentions, but for his myopic faith towards the degenerates who claim they play for the Arsenal but have shown no evidence to back that claim.
I would not even dare tell Wenger what to do, but the hallmark of a true leader is the willingness to listen. And the cries of a million Gooners can’t possibly be all that wrong now can it?
Go Gooners.
I will & have openly said on many occasions that this team is not good enough to win anything major no matter what anyone says BUT for those that say “get rid of wenger!” need to really think about what there saying instead of just bursting out in frustration..
Yh he’s made a few mistakes in the last few seasons but which manager has not?? truth is theres nobody out there good enough to replace wenger so to want him out would just be digging us a deeper hole then the small one were in.
He just needs to get rid of a few of these timewasters in the sqauad & bring in some hungry & gifted players then we should be fine.
@dilshan:
Hey mate, where you from?
the subcontinent?
Samuel:
If you truely beleive that we are “…one of the best 8 in Europe and getting better” then you must have watched a different match yesterday. What in the performance gave you such a rosy impression? If you cant even call a spade a spade you must live in fantasy land.
Really pathetic excuse for another year of failure. Chelsea nor United and certainly not City, are going out of business any time soon. If you don’t spend you will drop into the 2nd tier of the EPL.
Also please note that you have stolen many a youth player ( on the cheap or free ) from other leagues and have obtained a number of of top players for next to nothing. All good business and I am not being critical on this front, however you must stop with the excuses and accept that your manager is lacking tactically and you are proven loosers when it counts most. FACT!!!
we arsenal haven won anything in the last five years but there has been great things that happened in past five years we built a new stadium which Liverpool are having trouble with, the first London team to reach champions league.spend significantly less that all the top teams always challenge for title. and for the past TEN {10} champions league the only team to reach the knock-out stages not real Madrid, Barcelona, AC, inter, man U, Chelsea. we may have not won anything it does mean we have been bad
ARSENE WENGER is the BEST EVER manager in the English Premier league.
‘proven loosers’ I don’t think someone who is unable to master the difference between the word looser (as in: ‘the noose he tied for himself was definitely not getting any looser…’) and the word loser (as in: well, you know) should be dolling out the FACTS so unashamedly. Particularly when your assertion that those who don’t spend fall to the bottom half of the premier league is so fittingly proved wrong by the table above. Moron.
What annoys me is the sense of entitlement coming from so many fans. It’s as though they are entitled to a trophy or entitled to be the best simply by following Arsenal. If it doesn’t happen the teddy bears go flying. This has always been a great club – long before most here even started following it. But if you look at the records there were long periods in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s when we won nothing and were not even challenging. Not only that – most of the teams and players were dire in comparison to what we have today. My point is that you follow your team for better or worse. This not a bad team – it is not a great team which we all would like. We do have a top manager – but not a miracle worker. The club doesn’t lack ambition – but it’s conservative with money (always has been). Put these three together and it can’t be called failure. Disappointment compared with what preceded it – yes. But not a million miles from success.
@ Bob Todd.
Surely the table (up top) with the topic info proves you don’t have to spend to stay in the top flight?
Shit, we’ve even been challenging for all the major trophies while doing so!! Even if not winning them.
Well said Stroller. Some people dont seemt o understand that you follow the team through the good times and bad. Unfortunately our success of recent seasons has set high expectations and fans think we have a right to win everything. Wrong! Older Arsenal fans (like me) will remember 82-87 when we were a mid table team playing dreadful football! (94-96 too come to think of it!)
That’s an interesting table above but it doesn’t take into account we have one of the highest wage bills in the league. Some clubs have may have spent more on transfers but we shell out more on wages. Is ours 2nd only to Chelsea? Possibly City have over taken us now.
I’m not surprised by the reaction of people following yesterdays defeat, however I doubt Wenger will make wholesale changes. I expect him to quietly add a couple of players to the squad with 1 or 2 leaving. All this nonesense about getting rid of 7 players and bringing 7 £10m+ players in is childish and unrealistic & I suggest the ‘fans’ who think that should lay off playing championship manager!
It is not a matter of spending that I have a problem. Infact I think it is amazing how Wenger has managed to get by with so little spending. My problem is the coaching. If you do not have the money to compete, then get a savy number 2 coach to help on the defensive side of our game. Also the players are too precious and are having too much of an easy ride at Arsenal and they need to understand that they need to step up in order to prove their worth to Arsenal fans.
And this is since the inception of the Premier League – if you look at the spending since 04/05 Arsenal are 20th. And to think that Wenger is being criticized under these circumstances.
Arsene knows!
Russ and stroller, i agree, we have no right to win trophies. However, we were in a good position in january, according to wenger, we have the financial muscle but we signed no one. This isnt prudence or having faith with “the project” its negligence! RVP was injured, bendtner was injured, no one was brought in! We ALL know almunia aint up to it! No one was brought in! Im not one of these football manager fans, but we didnt need to do much to win the league. We gambled not buying hoping we would have a good run with injuries and we lost!
It’s gratifying to see that we’ve been financially prudent, but I think some of what *has* been spent could have been spent more wisely. The 15.8M we spent on Nasri could’ve been more profitably spent on Anelka (800K cheaper). I think it’s fair to say that Denilson hasn’t been worth the 3.4M Arsene paid for him. Then there’s the 4.5M we’ve spent on our #1 and #2 keepers. Diaby represents another 2M of money not well spent. We could’ve gotten Cudicini on a free, Anelka for 15M, and sold Cole for his real value, not the laughable 5M we got for the best left-back in England. That doesn’t take in to account the huge amounts of money spent on players that stayed for a year or two and moved on, sometimes with a huge profit, sometimes not (Hleb, Wiltord, Flamini). Part of the reason we’re so skint now is because he spent so poorly in the past.It’s not merely a matter of having money to spend, it’s about getting value for what you *do* spend. We haven’t gotten that all the time with Arsene.
Please shut up samtex! if you think wenger has spent his money badly then you are a stuid fool.
hey samtex does have a *fair* point, i mean lets be honest nasri isnt what i saw in the french league and anelka would have a. bolstered our slightly under-par attack and b. stopped chavski getting “what they want” (thats personal) but yeah wenger spends money pretty well and as for cole, we did get the best centre back in france too although quite possibly one of the most stroppiest guys in football lol, oh well, ideal world id have nasri, cole, gallas and anelka. One last thing i heard a very unbelieveable rumour that we could make a swoop for torres, sounds far-fetched and financially unfathomable but has anyone else heard this, UP THE ARSE!!!!!!
@okayplayer:
As evertyone forgets we get 26 games for our season ticket & not 19 as everyone else gets
Take the extra 7 games out & i’m sure we are cheaper than Chelski & the spuds!!!!
Shit happens & injuries to our players one of ’em. This may sound a tad cliche but weer doing well in the circumstances. All u moaners are either plastic no brainers with short memories. it was only yesterdays that Arsene was to u the best and God sent for Arsenal. Here’s hoping that Arsene would singed his extension contract.
Guys this really meant nothing. We need to win trophies, not some “net income” league. Great european teams win the champions league and we really need that trophy to gain respect.
@TA6: here here
Sorry Samtex, but what is Anelka worth NOW v. what is Nasri worth NOW. Nasri is still only 22 with his whole career ahead of him and still has 5+ years of improving ahead of him for us, and then if we sold him he’ll be worth a lot more than we paid. Anelka is basically worth nothing now, at his age. Chelsea may have gotten a decent couple years out of him, but where are they now? So old they need to go out and buy a whole new team. Will Abramovich spend another half a billion rebuilding them again? Somehow I doubt it.
ARSENE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FUCKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! KNOWS!!!!!!!!!!!!………….. Period.
Just to be clear, I support Arsenal and will continue to support them forever even if we never win a trophy again.
Anyway, that was just to ensure that the following comes across as a statement rather than a whine.
Take that table of net spending on transfers and include spending on wages and it becomes very, very, different.
If you look at Purchased divided by Sold, you see something even more remarkable. Man C have spent £3.90 for every £1 they have got from selling players, Chelsea £2.90, Spurs £1.88, Man U a respectable £1.50, and Arsenal £1.13, which puts us in between Bolton and Wigan in 16th place.
It’s interesting to see that we’re actually the 6th highest in terms of purchases, and second only to ManU in the Sold column. So that says to me that Arsene is not afraid to buy (or hasn’t been when funds are available), but is brilliant in selling players at the right time.
Arsenal have done fantastically well given the resources that they have, and I think Wenger should be given recognition for that, not sneered at by so-called experts. Of course he doesn’t get everything right, but give the man some credit!
I think this chart shows the brilliance of Wenger and Arsenal… look at the sod teams that have spent more on net – Tottenham? Everton? Aston Villa? Liverpool? Birmingham? You know Man U should be 5th on the list when take out about 40 million overpaid for Ronaldo (he wasn’t worth 80).
Very good Arsenal – I am proud to support a team not built on silly money and mercenaries. You know the old expression – throw enough shit against the wall and some of it will stick. I guess that’s the transfer policies of all these other teams… just keep throwing shit against wall hoping that you luck upon a good team. Chelsea has just been able to throw more shit than anyone else. Big deal.
Congratulations, Arsenal, on winning the “moral Treble” for the fifth successive year. Points and goals may be enough for the chavs and mancs – the scousers have to make do with “history” – but those of us who can read a sheet of accounts know where the real glory lies. Here’s hoping for more of the same in 2011!
players in…
igor akinfeev 14MILLION
van der vaart 6MILLION
yaya toure 13MILLION
van der weil 9MILLION
jerome boatang 11MILLION
nevon subotic 11MILLION
chamakh FREE
players out…
eduardo 8MILLION
silvestre FREE
almunia WHO KNOWS
I’m quite amused by “supporting the clubs through the good times and bad times”.
If coming third counts as “bad times”, imagine the mass suicide that would follow getting relegated.
@ROMFORD TART.The coach who buys Yaya Toure is like one who buys a donkey for a chariot race.
Arsenal are a ‘ Harrods ‘ Club when it comes to what fans are charged for Season tickets & Match Day tickets but an ‘ Aldi ‘ Club when it comes to spending in the Transfer market.
It may be sensible to run the Club prudently but even if the total stadium debt was paid off tomorrow what is to stop the inevitable future takeover of the club being financed by loans & therefore putting the club into deeper debt than today, similar to ManUre & Liverpool ?
The high cost to fans contributes to the decreasing of the debt so therefore fans are effectively lining the pocket of the future rich owner. There is never the joy for Arsenal fans of a stellar world class signing whilst Wenger’s stubborn experiment continues year on year to see us fall short whilst making the same mistakes & failing consistently to win the ‘big crucial’ matches & not just win more often than not be soundly beaten. The board of Arsenal are cynically milking their paying fans & the apathy to this fact is staggering.
I for one, am very proud that we are as good as we are, without spending more than half the clubs in the EPL in net terms. Take away the ridiculous 80 million for Ronaldo, and ManUre are up into third place. Liverpool, Everton, Sunderland, Aston Villa, what have they got to show for their spending? Especially the media darlings Liverpool – disgraceful.
Cheers Wenger and the Arsenal for being competitive year after year without spending assinine amounts of cash on spoilt mercenary players.
Yeah, you’re right, Goonerman. Thought I could contribute to the conversation. In some forums diversity of thought is an asset to be hoped for. It’s called dialogue. Look it up. That’s where you’ll find a lot of “stuid fools”. I’ll head on back over there. Texas Sam, signing off.
i think wenger shouldnt spend money, we are the best team in the world. bendtner is the best player the world will ever see. he scores goals no one else can score. fabregas is however rubbish, i hope we get rid of him. almunia and fabianski are the best duo of goalkeepers in the world.
Who doesn’t want Arsene Wenger? These figures speak for themselves. The owners’ and fans should be grateful to him, the owners even more so. Wenger has guided the club to remain at top level with financial frugality. Now with lesser debt and sound financial situation he can spend a bit more to strengthen his squad without compromising his philosophy. The Arsenal squad should be able to compete comfortably for trophies with two or three experienced additions. Thank you Arsene!!!
We need to take alook at the the wage structure.. the amount of money been spent on these players…
“Chamakh is only the sixth highest rated forward in France, coming in at No.177 in the Castrol Rankings.” (needles saying he’s the cheapest available, so our board can make their pockets full at the end of the season…again)
hahaha, “Take away the ridiculous 80 million for Ronaldo, and ManUre are up into third place”, get over it, Ronaldo, then best player in the world, was sold for 80m pounds, you cant take that away from Sir Alex, best transfer dealing of all time. This is statistic, you cant calculate this by taking this and that number away from this and that team to get some ridiculous and stupid result so Arsenal will compare better or other teams to compare worse, just plain stupid.
hahaha, “Take away the ridiculous 80 million for Ronaldo, and ManUre are up into third place”, get over it, Ronaldo, then best player in the world, was sold for 80m pounds, you cant take that away from Sir Alex, best transfer dealing of all time. This is statistic, you cant calculate this by taking this and that number away from this and that team to get some ridiculous and stupid result so Arsenal will compare better or other teams to compare worse, just plain stupid.
What a load of garbage from the ‘Wenger can do no wrong’ brigade once more.
How anyone could have watched such a terrible performance at Wigan (following the ultimate disgrace at Spurs)from OUR team and still insist that 5 trophyless years have been worth the pain to get where we are now are in cloud-cuckoo land.
I am not one calling for Wenger’s dismissal, but he really is walking a tightrope now. We can all see what is obviously missing from our squad and the transfer market close season is in my opinion his last chance to put things right.
You ought to be at The Emirates regularly as I am to appreciate the deep frustration of fans who are paying for the most expensive tickets in world football. It cannot go on like this.
What rubbish. The reason you support a club isn’t because of how financially prudent they are but what they do on the pitch.
By releasing these figures you seem to be suggesting that throwing away a 2-0 goal lead against a relegation threatened side is fine because we haven’t spent much money in recent years. At the end of yet another trophyless season and limp display at the business end of the campaign, are you seriously telling me that you console yourselves by saying ‘Oh well, but at least we’re doing well financially. That ought to show United and Chelsea!’?
Next season, as we continue to save money, the likes of Spurs and Man City (who I remind have both already beaten us this season so you cannot deny that the warning signs are there) will leapfrog us and leave us battling for Europa league places if we’re lucky.
You clowns don’t have a clue.
Mmm I’m glad they are making so much money! they should give some back to the fans if they’re not going to spend it on players. I pay £1,300 for my season ticket. Slash ticket prices you stingy fucks!that would do nicely!
Mmm I’m glad they are making so much money! they should give some back to the fans if they’re not going to spend it on players. I pay £1,300 for my season ticket. Slash ticket prices you stingy fucks!that would do nicely!
Well said, I’m sick of armchair supporters taking the high ground, saying we should be proud that we spend nothing. It is fans like me, who spend a fortune on their season tickets and actually make a financial commitment to to the club, who are being taken for mugs! the club spend nothing but we still have to fork out loads of money each year to watch our beloved Arsenal!
@ kipmonster i love your comment and i think that you should address that to atleast half these wassocks on here..
out to watch inter v barca now, make sure you lot keep an eye on wesley sneider he’ll be the one pulling all the strings for inter tonight.. CANNOT! belive arsene did not sign him this summer he’s a mix of asharvin an nasri on good days!
Finally some common sense among commentators around here. I kept saying this question for ages. Have we really developed in the last 5 years??? Just remember the last season Flamini played for us we had Adebayor, Hleb, Flamini, Toure, Gilberto, Lehmann and we looked like 100 times more solid than we do now.
@ ur a WUM!!!
@ arsenal4life ur a WUM!!!
this site is poor man… used to be good i remember…
another thing what the hell is up with the page when half of it is red?! u cant see the bludy writing!
ill tell you something else gooners wenger likes to give footjobs! mainly to van persie..
@ROMFORD TART: use Firefox instead of IE. That’ll fix the rendering problem you’re experiencing.
@ Romford Tart ………. Sneider is brilliant, I remember him years ago when he was 20 / 21 being the chief destroyer of Scotland in 6-0 thrashing ( only Scotland I know ! ) & for a while he was one of those very good players we were ‘linked’ with but of course didn’t sign. I’m just sick of this attitude that if you criticise Arsenal or the great man Mr Wenger you are not a real fan. It’s George Orwell stuff ! ……… and idiots who say success isn’t judged in the main by silverware. They trumpet the 10 successive years of Champions Lge football but that is more a financial success than a football one. If Fabregas stays & as things stand, he will have a cabinet full of shining ‘ 4th Places ‘ to look back on !!!
HOW CAN ANYONE SAY WE NEED A NEW MANAGER?
THE DAY ARSENE WENGER LEAVES ARSENAL IS THE DAY WE’RE IN TROUBLE.
THE LINE BETWEEN WINNING AND LOOSING IS SO FINE, EDUARDO LEG BREAK-CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL BABEL DIVE-KIERAN GIBBS SLIP-INJURIES AT VITAL MOMENTS THIS SEASON.
THE TEAM IS ON THE WAY UP, AND WITH PLAYERS LIKE NASRI, DIABY, CESC, DENILSON, VERMEALEN, CLICHY, WALCOTT ALL IN THEIR EARLY TWENTIES, HOW DOES THAT NOT EXCITE YOU??
PLUS YOU HAVE AN UNLIMITED AMOUNT OF TOP TOP YOUNGSTERS COMING THROUGH, RAMSEY, WILSHERE, EMMANUAL-THOMAS, VELA, LANSBURY, EASTMOND, AFOBE, ANEKE, BARAZITE, FREEMAN, CRUISE, AYLING, BARTLEY
WE HAVE MISSED OUT ON TROPHIES BECAUSE OF ERROR IN GAMES, NOT THE MANAGER BUT PLAYERS HAVE LET HIM DOWN. YES WE NEED A FEW RE-ENFORCEMENTS BUT NOT A CHANGE OF TEAM.
THIS TEAM IS SET UP FOR THE NEXT 10 YEARS, THE ONLY THING THAT WILL LET IT DOWN IS LOOSING THE MANAGER
UP THE ARSENAL
IN WENGER WE TRUST
My article of why I think there’s something very deeply wrong with Arsenal
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/382494-theres-something-very-wrong-with-this-arsenal-side
@rex:
Somehow reminds me of the preseason doommongering before this season begun… you don’t have a clue…