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Arsene Wenger believes Arsenal’s financial fair play adherence can help transfers and title challenge
Arsene Wenger is expecting Arsenal to challenge for the Premier League title next season, citing the club’s adherence with financial fair play (FFP) and increased sponsorship revenue as reasons for optimism.
Last year the club agreed the most lucrative shirt sponsorship deal in their history with Puma, worth £30m, and had a turnover of £136m for the period ending November 30, 2013.
Already, Wenger is enjoying the benefits of such strong financial health having spent £60m on new recruits this summer, including £30m on Alexis Sanchez, the second-most expensive man in the club’s history.
Wenger said:
I would say that the balance of power is a bit more even than it was five or six years ago.With the financial fair play added to the fact we have more financial power than five years ago it gives us a better chance.
Chelsea and Liverpool have spent more money than the Gunners this transfer window, but both have had to sell first. So far, Arsenal have a higher net spend than anyone else in the league this summer.
Uefa's FFP restrictions have been tightened this year, with the maximum level of loss permitted for a Champions League club cut to £25m for the next three seasons.
Chelsea have sold star names to help them comply with the rules, while Manchester City have already been hit with a hefty £49m fine, transfer restrictions and reduced squad numbers for their Champions League campaign, due to their failure to meet regulation.
Yet while their rivals rein in the spending, Arsenal are now beginning to flex some financial muscle, having been one of the most frugal Premier League sides in recent years. Over the previous six seasons (2008/2009 – 2013/2014) only Everton (£12m) and Newcastle (£45m) have made more money from transfers than Arsenal.
And Wenger admitted it was a relief to finally feel like he was on a level playing field again, after a troublesome few years during which he was forced to sell a number of key players:
A few seasons ago I was thinking , ‘who will go next?’. It’s a vicious circle. Once you get great players in, everybody wants to stay. I never made any excuses. I thought it was the most sensitive and important period of my career here.The last two seasons it has changed because we had the financial power to do it, the seasons before we could not and I was sitting here saying where do we go next, but we managed to get into a better position.