I’m not happy with extortionate transfer fees, but hey, if it helps Arsenal to win more trophies…..

It’s about time Arsenal joined the spending spree club!

Many a time I have been critical and equally ashamed of football as a whole when it comes to the spending of clubs for players.

I have always failed to see why clubs feel the need to spend big ridiculous amounts of money on players, and I know they acquire them to help them win trophies, and more often than not for some clubs it helps. But WHY do they need to spend big to do that when there is so much talent at affordable prices?

It should be the clubs that set the bar and if they offer low then others will, but it seems to have become the norm now for clubs to bid extortionate amounts of money, and I don’t think it is fair!

But, although it is ridiculous and I have slammed many clubs over the years for overspending, especially when it is over the £80-100m mark for just ONE player, now I have come to the point where I just want to say that if every other club is doing it and succeeding, then why shouldn’t Arsenal also do it??

After all football nowadays is all about money and about what player can go for the most amount of money and who can break the transfer record for being the most expensive player.

Gone are the days where you can have a transfer window where each player a club has bought is below £30m.

And it becomes clearer now, more so that it doesn’t matter what experience a player has, if they are sought after than you can expect stupid fees and offers to be put in, and in turn on occasion be accepted, because that is what football is, all about money, as sad as I am to admit that, that is the truth.

I mean I criticised Arsenal when they bought Nicolas Pepe for over £70m thinking that was ridiculous, but I guess that was the start or even the middle of ridiculous money being thrown out in football.

Well, as they say, if you can’t beat them join them, and to be honest the money, although a percent of it may be coming out of us fans pocket into the owners pockets, if that contributes to a player being bought in who will help us get stronger and potentially win things then so be it.

And for sure gone are the days of loyalty and passion (for some players not all) and if Arsenal want to go out and spend big on a number of players then let them.

At the end of the day, they can’t win either – they don’t buy, we moan, they buy we moan, – we just have to sit back relax and enjoy a different type of transfer window from Arsenal moving forward where it hopefully sees us land strong talent to help us move forward, regardless of the cash thrown around – but as long as it is legal and it meets FFP and it fully doesn’t come out of my pocket I don’t care!

Onwards and upwards we go hey Gooners!

Shenel Osman

@sh3n3l_

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Tags transfer fees

24 Comments

  1. If we don’t spend,we will continue to decline as a massive football club.

    Let’s spend big provided it’s on the right players.

    Arsenal is the third (3) biggest club in England.Need to say Man City and Chelsea are closing in rapidly.

    1. Correction: Arsenal is one of the three biggest clubs in England. One of the two most loved clubs in the world from England and the classier of the two.

  2. If he was much shorter, he would’ve been much cheaper. Tall, strong, non-injury-prone, highly-promotable and young English midfielder with a double-lung stamina is usually very expensive

  3. Spending big has certainly helped Man City. How much its done for everyone else is debatable. The problem is if the other guy has oil wells while you can only spend what you earn they are going to be the ones buying Haaland not you. There’s also the question of value. If we looked back at this round of transfers in a couple of seasons time it wouldn’t surprise me if some unknown (probably signed by Brighton) turned out to be better than any of the big money signings.

    1. Spending big has helped Chelsea, United, Barcelona, Madrid, Bayern, PSG etc throughout the years.

    2. Brighton and Brentford have adopted the billy bean approach to identifying undervalued players. Heavily focused on statistics and matrixes, they will unearth more talent but a lot of misses as well no doubt. They can afford to deploy this risk and reward strategy because they are not expected to win silverware and can build the club up financially. The big teams are stuck in a cycle, they can’t afford to accept a few years in the wilderness by design, so you have to spend just to stand still now. Man City refresh elements almost every season and adapt playing styles. They are the bar set to beat right now

  4. £25 million up front then £25 million in the winter then £25 million next summer then £25 million the following winter. Thats £100 million over two years in 4 half year payments. Plus £5 million if Arsenal do the double. Westham will use the first £25 million to get a replacement! The other three payments will be bonuses for their directors when the payments are all but forgoten next year. Ha Ha Ha!

  5. Happy to see you Shenel, if we can’t beat them we may as well join them.

    They are companies who literally bought that big jug Chelsea did and so too the Citizens.

    But we have a case here where one of the big boys is attempting to get out of sight. Imo that warrant some sort of ridiculous spending that is necessary just to stay in striking distance.

  6. “Whatever one may think about Rice’s fee, or his limitations as a player, he is undeniably one of the best defensive midfielders in the Premier League and represents a serious upgrade on Thomas Partey” – Goal.com

    Is Rice really “a serious upgrade on Thomas Partey”?

    Can the two players play together?

    1. “Can the two play together”
      Yes, but unlikely as a starting partnership. One would most likely start, and the other possibly come on later to add solidarity when we are defending a tight lead.
      That’s assuming Partey stays of course.

    2. Jaxa/ Twig
      I differ to disagree

      Partey and Rice would be perfect in a double pivot role.

      ——————Ramsdade
      –Timber–Saliba—Magalease-‘Zinchenko

      —————-Partey—–Rice

      —Saka—Odegaard/Havertz—Martinelli

      ——————–Jesus

      The above is a mouth watering 4; 2 ; 3 ; 1 formation,

      Rice plays here for club and country, but Havertz would be playing in his favorite spot where he has done the most damage.

  7. I’m in agreement. I think we should have walked away. However, if the price doesn’t hinder us from adding to more positions we need I’ll be okay with it. We’ll need another midfielder if Partey leaves

    1. When do we stop walking away? It turns us into cowards. That’s the mentality and attitude that we should try to change.
      Every other top club has been led to believe that if they are in for the same player as Arsenal then they have a very high chance of signing him ahead of us..

      Even the other medium clubs fans always conclude that “It’s just Arsenal, they will not pay up”.

  8. I gave up on looking too deep into hiw much we are spending on a single player when Man United came in and paid near the asking price for Lisandro Martinez. Then Chelsea came in a dropped £80 million on Mudryk and we wimped out.

    We should stop deluding ourselves about the days of buying cheap (Henry, Bergkamp, Vieira, Pires, Cesc, Anelka, RVP etc). Those days are long gone. The EPL just signed another £5 billion TV deal. Back in the 90’s and Early 2000’s it used to be a few £100 million TV deals. Now we the TV deals are £5 billion plus..
    The more we try to delude ourselves about being the principled “We don’t want to spend stupid wages / transfer fees club” then our rivals will keep winning big things and leaving us behind. We went through all that during the Wenger days and where did we end up? Our players always being snapped up by our rivals and our rivals making fun of how “The giants have fallen”. Etc..

    As long as the owners think that spending that much is okay then who are I to say otherwise? They are business men and know what the market is dictating.

    *The manager is being supported and has got to deliver. The players that we are spending this much money on have got to come in and deliver too*

    Simples..

  9. Arteta and Edu built a very competitive team with the process of young, reasonably priced talent and giving them time to play together.

    Over 600 million spent now with Arteta, so it would be hypocritical to bash the “money clubs.”

    If people are fine with buying success then don’t bash City or other clubs if we lose out. We have fallen right in line with those clubs now.

    I’m not saying it’s good or bad, just saying be consistent. Don’t bash others for spending levels while we are doing the same.

    1. Had they been spending wisely from the start that figure would have been much lower. Of all Arteta and Edu signings very few have been an upgrade to take us forward.

      Odegaard, Zinchenko, Gabriel Magalhaes, Tomas, Ramsdale, Ben, Tomi and Trossard. 8 out of 24 players signed have been good to great signings.

      16 mediocre signings in 3 years and we have to clap for their lordships while taking a dig at Wenger’s mediocre signings. How delusional and comfortable at that some have become nowadays.

  10. I think the key has to be sustainability. The rules are still wrong, it isn’t a fair playing field. Chelsea had significant debt wiped out by the previous owner on sale of the club, beats fair play rules by manipulation. Man city have been less than honest over several years pumping money to generate future revenues which may only now start to match the clubs outgoings. Money doesn’t guarantee success but it puts you in with a chance. The rules need to be tightened and punished heavier should they be breeched.

    1. Chelsea were forced to sell the club Abramovic was sanctioned after his mate Putin invaded Ukraine. HIS club owed him over £2 billion would you believe it? Boehly had to pay over £4 billion to cover the the debt plus the value of the club. Obscene money in modern football which will get even worse because the regulators are, and always will be, yes men to the powerful leagues like the EPL and UCL. I can’t wait to see the punishment meted out to Man City by the EPL. My prediction? A slap on the wrist as there’s no point in fining them or a worthwhile punishment like a large deduction of points or even relegation could have financial implications to their “cash cow” the 20 PL clubs and the likelihood of being sued by City’s owners. The big rich fat cats always win in the real world because they have the commodity that always works MONEY!! We, the lowly supporters are just there for the ride – totally powerless except for the occasional banner waving against the owners when they get a bit miffed, as if they care!!!

  11. I don’t mind the club spending money on players our manager Mikel Arteta wants. So far, his signing policy and coaching style had been very successful. I mean, did you notice Granit Xhaka and Martin Odegaard’s cheekbone last season? Arteta will squeeze the juice out of every players possible. His own personal non-negotiable.

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