Arsenal: How much can the Gunners actually raise?

Arsenal have all but spent their reported £50 million transfer budget. But with player sales, they could raise further funds. So, how much could they actually raise?

Much was made of how much money Arsenal had to spend this summer. While Ivan Gazidis protested that the club would have full access to the revenue of the club, a revenue that, combined with the conservative cash reserves that the club holds, could yield a transfer budget comfortably north of £100 million, there have been strong reports claiming that Unai Emery will have between £50 and £70 million to invest in the new squad, plus what is recouped through player sales.

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It remains to be seen how much Emery does have to splash on his new squad. But irrespective of the total figure, what will unquestionably be important is the money that is raised by sales. And there are certainly plenty of sales that could be made this summer.

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That begs the question, then, how much money could Arsenal actually raise this summer through the selling of players without having to sacrifice the departures of any of their key contributors. So, I did a bit of digging. I went through the whole squad and forecasted what I believe to be sensible values for each player’s exit. I did not include the potential sales of what I deemed to be regular first-team members like Shkodran Mustafi, Alexandre Lacazette and Aaron Ramsey.

What I discovered is that, actually, Arsenal, through a vast number of sales of players of the periphery of the squad, have an excellent opportunity to raise far more cash than perhaps some would believe. These are all the players that I had departing the club this summer and for their respective, approximate price.

David Ospina (£5 million); Petr Cech (£10 million) or Emiliano Martinez (£5 million); Carl Jenkinson (£2 million); Lucas Perez (£10 million); Chuba Akpom (£2 million); Loan and Young Player sales (£5 million) — ‘Loan and Young Player sales’ include players like Jeff Reine-Adelaide, Krystian Bielik, Gedion Zelalem, Ben Sheaf, who will likely leave the club but it would be on a loan or permanent basis).

In this hypothetical scenario, Arsenal would raise £34 million. Even if they do not sell all of those players or sell some for less than my forecasted fee or they sell different ones that I have no highlighted, at an extremely conservative estimate, it is easy to see how at least £20 million can be raised for Emery re-invest in more pressing areas of the squad.

That is a substantial amount of money if used correctly. It could cover the reported move for Ever Banega; it could contribute to the £35 million that is reportedly required to prise Caglar Soyuncu away from Freiburg; it could pay for the Medhi Benatia fee if those rumours are true. It could buy a very useful player indeed. And it comes from selling players who are relatively useless had they stayed.

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So if Arsenal do go on to spend another £20-30 million and take their spending up to the £100 million mark, it does not necessarily mean that their budget has grown from the intial reported figure. It probably just means that sales are on their way.