Arsenal: So, how much do they have to spend?

Arsenal have been linked with a myriad of £50 million players. They also reportedly only have a £50 million budget this summer. So, which narrative is correct?

Everything that you read between now and the transfer deadline you must read with a rather hefty pinch of salt. And that goes for things that you read on this site as much as anything else. Simply, there isn’t much that is easy to believe as the unadulterated truth at this point in the football calendar.

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It is the nature of the transfer window and the rumours that surface because of it. I do have sympathy with many of those working for the newspapers and other media outlets. They have to pay the bills; their organisations have to get their clicks. It is the nature of an advertising-first industry.

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Nevertheless, many of the reports that we read about Arsenal these days are utter folly. It is very difficult to weed out the accurate from the rubbish. And this season, what makes it especially murky is this lingering suggestion that the club only has a £50 million budget to spend on players, plus whatever is recouped in player sales throughout the window which isn’t expected to be much if Aaron Ramsey indeed stays.

While there is much that needs to be said regarding the competitiveness of such a budget in the increasingly expensive modern football world, in the here and now, there is also something that all of the media outlets, ourselves included, must factor in when reporting and commenting on these rumours linking players to the club: Arsenal do not have that much money to spend.

And yet, just in the last week, the likes of Corentin Tolisso, Ousmane Dembele, Gelson Martins, Emil Forsberg, Benjamin Pavard, Caglar Soyuncu and Lucas Torreira have all been mentioned as possible targets for the club, many of which will cost close to if not above that £50 million milestone.

That does not include Sokratis Papastathopolous who is seemingly to set to sign in a £16 million deal, as well as the wages of Stephan Lichtsteiner who could arrive on a free transfer in the coming days also. There is no way that Arsenal can possibly be seriously considering even half of all of those names with that budget.

Now, obviously, just because they are being touted as possible targets it does not mean that there is any actual interest there, or that there might be some interest there but it is not especially serious, sustained and genuine. But nevertheless, these reports have not come through the lens of a £50 million budget. Could it be that there isn’t one? Could it be that Arsenal actually have more money to spend? Ivan Gazidis certainly evaded the question in his press conference when introducing Unai Emery.

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I do not know how much money is available to Gazidis, Sven Mislintat and Unai Emery. I’d be surprised if anyone in the media does. But the question is still a fair one because all these links suggest something else. I guess it’s just a sign of the times.