Once famed for its restrictive finances, Arsenal have smashed their summer transfer records with big deals for players such as Nicolas Pepe, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette.
In fact, since Stan Kroenke first became involved with the club in 2007, Arsenal have seen an outlay of more than £1 billion spent on players added to Arsene Wenger, Unai Emery and now Mikel Arteta’s squads.
Considering the club has regressed during that time, finishing with back-to-back 8th placed finishes in the last two seasons, this would point to the money having been directed wrongly at targets who have failed to influence the club in a progressive way.
Things might be changing since Edu’s promotion to technical director. The last two summer windows have been much more improved with a clear strategy and quality additions made across the board barring a few characteristic mistakes which were wiped out entirely in 2021.
However, Newcastle United’s rise to wealth in the wake of their recent Saudi-led takeover has sparked a new threat the Gunners will need to contend with.
Amanda Staveley, who has been a crucial part of the buyout of Mike Ashley, has spoken with great ambition for where she sees the club going after its recent investment.
“Newcastle United deserves to be top of the Premier League. We want to get there. It will take time, but we will get there,” Staveley said to Sky Sports.
“We’re proud to be part of the Premier League. It’s an incredibly competitive league, which we love. Premier League football is the best in the world, and Newcastle United is the best team in the world.
“We want to see it get those trophies, obviously. At top of the Premier League, in Europe, but to get trophies means patience, investment, time. We want everybody to work with us to build the club towards what it needs to be.”
How much Newcastle are expected to spend in the upcoming windows is at this moment remains unknown. However, a recent analysis of what they could be capable of will be of great concern to Arsenal amongst many others.
The Business of Football blogger Swiss Ramble published his findings when looking through the finances of the Magpies to provide insight into what they could be capable of.
One of the shocking takeaways from Ramble’s analysis was that due to Mike Ashley’s reluctance to spend over the years, this means that restrictive measures could do little to stop major investments in the market.
In fact, Ramble explains how theoretically Newcastle could spend as much as £600 million in one window without punishment.
This is an unlikely outlay due to the restrictions it would put on any future and further investment, but it highlights how much leeway the northeast club have when it comes to splashing the cash.
Arsenal, Edu and Mikel Arteta may have begun to address the problems of recruitment by the club over the previous decade however they will need more aggressive and crucially even more accurate with their signings with the threat of Newcastle a genuine concern.
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