Make it rain - Arsenal
In this series, we analyse how the top six teams have balanced their books over the past 10 years and with record amounts of money being spent on transfers in the Premier League, what success it has brought each club. To kick it off, we are starting with the Gunners:
Arsenal
Spent - $563m
Received - $443m
Arsenal and Arsene Wenger have always been known to step cautiously in the transfer market of course with the exception of signing with Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil in 2013/2014 and more recently Shkodran Mustafi. Wengers sparce amount of signings and willingness to outlay the funds required to capture the elite players has aided Arsenal in becoming perennial outsiders for the Premier League title. One can only think though that the stinginess does stem from the administrators at the Emirates Stadium and their belief to balance the books in front of guaranteed first team success. Arsenal over the past decade have been starved of success in the Premier League although they have consistently qualified for the Champions League each year without lifting the cup. Wenger's men made it through to the final once during this time succumbing to Barcelona 2-1 in 2006.
They have managed to win 4 trophies in the last 10 years but are consistently the bud of all jokes relating to a lack of success. Numerous times throughout the decade some players were at the core of how the team performed. One that comes to mind is Dutchman, Robin van Persie. Van Persie signed with the club in October of 2004 for $6m from childhood club Feyenoord. He would go on to appear for Arsenal 276 times, scoring 97 in the Premier League. Van Persie rose to become club captain and due to a lack of success, decided to jump ship to Manchester United in 2012/13 for a hefty $44m. Here he found the success he craved by winning the Premier League title at the first crack.
Number of trophies - 4 (2 x FA Cups and 2 x Community Shields)
Rare find - Santi Carzorla ($27m)
Carzorla joined from Malaga FC in August 2012 for $27.2m and has gone on to make 180 appearances for the Gunners. He brought with him some added punch needed to the Gunners midfield starved of quality with the departures of Alex Song, Cesc Fabregas and Sami Nasri in previous seasons. Carzorla continues to drive the Arsenal midfield alongside Mesut Ozil and has become the teams go to man from the dead ball as shown below:
Most expensive - Mesut Ozil ($80m)
Whilst it's a large sum of money to spend on one player, Ozil has lived up to exceptions since arriving from Real Madrid. Current contract negotiations should cause a lot of concern for Gunners' supporters with Ozil expecting more money. It remains to be seen if Wenger will come to the party with Sanchez also in the same boat. He has though become the assist king for Arsenal, setting up 49 goals and creating 328 chances to date.
Waste of money - Lukas Podolski ($21.5m)
Podolski joined amongst much hype in the same transfer window as Carzorla from childhood club FC Koln after an earlier stint with German giants Bayern Munich. Podolski was brought in to support van Persie and with a solid goal scoring record for the German national side much more was expected. He was never able to find his feet and after a loan stint with Inter Milan, was eventually sold to Galatasaray for a loss close to $18m.
Next up - Chelsea FC
All prices are shown in $AUD
