Bard
For Arsenal the reverberations of this summer’s transfer window run far deeper than the disappointment of not signing a striker or a defensive powerhouse. It marked the moment, to use Gazidis’s analogy, when we moved from being off the shoulder of the big hitters to them moving rapidly out of sight. This window marked the moment when it was possible to say with some certainty that Arsenal under their current financial structure and owner are unlikely to win the Premier League ever again. I would go further and suggest that within two seasons the gap between what we pay and the other top clubs will mean we will be back to having to sell our best players. The reasons for such bold statements have very little to do with the Boss and his current way of working, so let’s leave the ‘it’s another anti Wenger rant’ to one side.
With the stadium debt easing and the financial fair play rules coming into effect it was reasonable for the club to hope that they could start to compete with the bigger clubs. But barely two seasons into that project the football landscape has suddenly and irrevocably changed. Financial fair play was a noble but naïve project. If governments can’t control large corporations how realistic was it to imagine that football’s governing body would be able to do so. Whilst they exist in a modified form they haven’t prevented football from becoming a game of no limit poker. It’s a game for only those with very deep pockets and while Stan is wealthy beyond our dreams, at this level he is a minnow. He neither has the resources nor the will. The transfer window demonstrated an unprecedented increase in the level of spending on transfers, £58m De Bruyne, £49m Sterling, £36m Martial, none of them world-beaters by any stretch of the imagination. No model of self-sustainability would be able to generate the kind of resources needed to take a punt on any of the above. Add into the mix the wages that come with that package (Benzema allegedly on £300,000 per week) and Arsenal have simply been priced out of the game.
As an economist it has been strange that Wenger has never understood that ‘inherent value’ doesn’t exist. The price or value is beholden to the forces of supply and demand. A glass of water is of more value to a man dying of thirst in the desert than to a housewife in Surrey. This has hampered our pursuit of players in the past but is largely irrelevant in the new world. The stratospheric prices now being paid have very little to do with proven ability. Is Sterling really worth nearly £10m more than Ozil, is Martial worth the same as Alexis?
I am certain the club have recognized this although how they spin the issue will be interesting. For us fans sadly the only two options are that we hope Stan sells to Usmanov and we join the game or we accept our fate with good grace. Wenger may have his faults but in this financial climate he is impotent.
