Bard
It is clear to everyone who follows Arsenal that Gazidis’s comments on our limited capacity to bid for players in the current market was a thinly veiled attempt to manage the fans’ expectations in the summer transfer window. Contrast this with the Gazidis of 2013 when he publically announced the end of austerity at Arsenal. While not saying we could match the Real Madrid’s of this world we could match a Bayern and afford Rooney type wages (approx £250,000 a week). He was in effect announcing that from now on the club were at long last going to be more competitive in the transfer market.
However the fact that he needed to come out last week and make such a statement suggests that the club have been caught napping by the increase in transfer prices. It is true as many have mentioned that the prices bandied about - £100m plus for Pogba, £50m for Stones - suggest a degree of overkill but no one who follows football should be surprised surely. I wrote a piece last season suggesting that the time for Arsenal to buy was coming to an end as a result of the Sterling and De Bruyne transfers fees and the Sky money. If I could see it surely then so could the club. There is little point in bemoaning the inflated prices as it is market economics. It’s a seller’s market and value has nothing to do with it. The price is decided by how much the buyer needs the player. Juventus have United by the short and curlies over Pogba because they are desperate to sign him.
If you know transfer prices are going to go through the roof next season then it makes sense to buy this season. With this in mind it makes the decision not to buy a single outfield player last summer look like a colossal error of judgment. A player we could have bought last season for £40m would now cost £60m+ in all probability. Did no one at the club make the connection? Or if they did what was the argument for not buying last season?
Gazidis also made much of the club’s plans for securing a sustainable future. It’s all well and good but how are they going to operate in a market where a bang average player now costs £30m+. We are, according to Gazidis, going to have to be more like Leicester. Really?
The bottom line is that the increase in transfer fees has cast doubt on the efficacy of the self-sustainability model adopted by the club. The club are either going to have to keep pulling rabbits out of the hat to stay competitive (unlikely) or they are going to have to tear up the business model because what is clear is that transfer fees are only going one way. I understand the arguments for self-sustainability but we have two of the richest men in the world on the board. Putting their hands in their pocket once a season to buy a proper player or two isn’t going to jeopardize the club’s long-term financial future.
The promotion of the self-sustainability model is disingenuous. It has, in my view, less to do with the protecting the future of the club and more to do with allowing Stan to use Arsenal’s finances to secure funding for other parts of his empire.
