Zubimendi (€70m), Eze (€70m), Gyökeres (€67m), Madueke (€56m)… Arsenal’s second Champions League final in history is a triumph that has come at a steep price – not just this season, but across Mikel Arteta’s entire tenure. In fact, the Gunners rank second worldwide for net transfer deficit over the past five years: -€769 million. Only Manchester United surpass them with -€780 million. In simple terms, they spent heavily acquiring talent and recouped little from departures.
This past summer alone, Arsenal splashed €295 million on the aforementioned signings and others, while only generating €13 million in sales. In previous campaigns, expenditures also soared: €107 million (2024/25), €235 million (2023/24), €186 million (2022/23), €167 million (2021/22), €86 million (2020/21), and €160 million (2019/20) since Arteta took the reins. Conversely, income from player sales during that period was a mere €83 million, €69 million, €23 million, €31 million, €19 million, and €53 million respectively.
This underscores that to assemble a squad now in the Champions League final and vying for the Premier League title, Arsenal had to retain players for whom they had paid top dollar, at the cost of being unable to generate significant revenue from offloading fringe players. That was the only path to steadily raising the team’s level.
Since last year, Andrea Berta has taken over the sporting director role to solidify this strategy and attempt to recoup more money from players considered surplus to requirements. They are on that path, and for now, are chasing the sport’s most prestigious honors.
