Arsenal’s transfer kitty is still bulging

By 1970's Gooner

Arsene’s dealings in the transfer market so far are creating very large surpluses of cash that are burning a big hole in his pockets. I calculate that net cash generated from transfers in and out since the window opened are as high as £26m!

They may soon find their way, I hope, on new signings. There's not many days left for the window to close afetr all.

First it was Henry’s sale to Barcelona then Ljumberg’s disposal to West ham and then Reyes’s transfer to Athletico Madrid. The latter for reportedly £8.1m which will bulge the kitty even more.

Arsenal have this annoying policy not to disclose transfer fees paid for players nor related financial arrangements such as players wages and other details. Quite shocking really considering that the company is quoted in one of London’s prestigious Stock Exchange Markets.

Nevertheless the original terms of Reyes’s transfer to Arsenal have been reported by the press at the time. The then 20-year-old winger was signed from Sevilla in a four-and-a-half-year deal worth up to £17.5m.

It was revealed that Arsenal would pay an initial £10.5m with £7m to follow depending on appearances and “add ons” conditional on Arsenal winning the Championship, domestic cups and the Champions League. I presume that Arsenal will have already paid the additional amounts agreed for Reyes’s appearances and for the trophies won during the time he grudgingly spent at Highbury.

We can therefore assume that there will be no significant amounts of money to go out from the £8.1m fee to be received from Real. On the other hand there will be no savings from his future salaries that Arsenal would have paid had he stayed on. The alternative to this transfer would have been another loan deal where his wages would have been met by the club taking him on.

Looking at the net cash generated from transfers in and out since the window opened I calculate that this kitty is as much as £26m!

Transfers in:

Sagna £10.1 (fee £7.5m plus wages for two years reported at £2.6m)
Dudu £10.6 (fee £8m plus wages for two years assumed at £2.6m)
Fabiansky £2.0m (wages not known but assumed not significant)
H Nordveit £2.0m (wages not known but assumed not significant)

Total £24.7

Transfers Out

J Aliadiãre £1.5m (wages not known but assumed not significant)
T Henry £ 29.0m (fee £16m plus wages for two years reported at £13m),
F Muamba £ 2.0m (wages not known but assumed not significant)
F. Ljungberg £10.2m (fee £3m plus wages for two years reported at £7.2m),
J. A Reyes £8.1m (no saving on wages assumed as explained above)

Total £50.8

In order to compare like for like this calculation takes into account not only the transfer fee but also two year’s salary to be paid for the players brought in and similarly the salary saved for the players transferred out. A two year horizon is chosen even if Henry’s contract had four years left because Ljumberg’s contract had two years remaining.

In a comment on a posting on the same subject it has been correctly pointed out to me that Henry’s merchandising income should also be factored out. This is difficult to gauge.

However account has to be taken that sales of shirts etc will in part be switched to other Arsenal favourite players. It has been reported that sales of shirts with Fabregas on the back were much more evident during the emirates Cup than before. In addition merchandising sales will go up due to the new players coming in like Eduardo for example.

Still it’s a bulging kitty which ever way you look at it. The question that begs itself is will Wenger buy any more players? The money is there!