Arsenal break top 10 for most expensive squads in the world

Arsenal have broken numerous club records over the past three years and very few of them are worth shouting about. Calls for the club to ‘spend some money’ are misguided as, let’s be honest, they have.

The most recent transfer window saw two records broken in regards to expenditure with Takehiro Tomiyasu completing Mikel Arteta’s sixth addition of the summer to round off a rough £150m total, the most the Gunners have ever parted with in a single window.

Prior to that Ben White made the short journey north from Brighton for a £50m fee, the most the club has ever spent on a defender, and due to little time and playing minutes passing since then, Arsenal are yet to see whether it’s paid dividends.

Having also smashed the record for a single purchase with the £72m acquisition of Nicolas Pepe in 2019, the question isn’t ‘why haven’t Arsenal spent’ and is, moreover, ‘what have they spent it on’.

https://twitter.com/CIES_Football/status/1434811108569673728

Arsenal transfer fees spent amount to eighth most expensive squad in the world with Mikel Arteta’s team worth €630m (£541m) following summer spree

Despite new financial milestones, Arsenal have amassed new records for appalling home form, losses to certain opposition, among countless other unwanted accolades, while the start to 2021/22 Premier League season has seen them accrue zero points and zero goals from their opening three fixtures with a -9 goal difference, the worst opening to a campaign in 67 years.

All of which is backdrop to having the eighth most expensively assembled squad in Europe’s top five leagues. Which, of course, means the eighth most expensive in the world.

In data released by the CIES Football Observatory, including add-ons, Arteta now has a squad of players worth €630m (£541m) to play with.

Granted, Arteta hasn’t been able to call upon a few of his men so far this season with White featuring only once, Tomiyasu yet to train with the squad and Martin Odegaard making only one Premier League outing since signing permanently, but it’s a figure that continues to eradicate whatever fading excuses the manager had left in the tank.

Where the fees are made up is largely in attack. The triumvirate of Pepe, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette account for £178m, which is nearly 33% of the entire total.

It’s an astounding number when you factor in that all three are fit for the upcoming clash with Norwich, and only one of them is expected to start. Furthermore, the three simply are not capable of playing together.

But hey, at least it’s a table that has Arsenal above Tottenham. Funnily enough, eighth is about where Arteta’s side are expected to finish this season.