How savvy Arsenal made £101m flogging deadwood but still have highest net transfer spend in bid to crack top-four

SAVVY Arsenal have managed to save themselves a whopping £101million in the last two years by flogging a number of deadwood players.

One of Mikel Arteta’s biggest jobs when he took charge in December 2019 was reducing the wage bill after inheriting an over-paid side.

And slowly but surely the Spaniard has managed to save the Gunners a hefty sum of cash.

According to football business Twitter account Swiss Ramble, Arsenal are £101m better off since the summer of 2021.

This has been due to selling the likes of Joe Willock for £25m to Newcastle last year in what was their only major cash sale.

Though the likes of Lucas Torreira and Ainsley Maitland-Niles were shipped out on loan to Fiorentina and Roma respectively where they received almost £2m in loan fees as well as having their wages covered.

Meanwhile David Luiz and Willian were released to save a combined £290,000-a-week in wages, with Sead Kolasinac and Calum Chambers allowed to join Marseille and Aston Villa on free transfers in January.

And Arsenal paid former skipper Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang £7m as they ripped up his contract to allow him to link up with Barcelona on a free earlier this year.

It has been claimed that Arsenal have saved an incredible £16.1m in wages after the first year from releasing the 33-year-old.

Moving onto this summer, Matteo Guendouzi was sold to Marseille for £9m, Torreira signed for Galatasaray in a £5m transfer and Bernd Leno joined Fulham in a deal rising to £8m.

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Defenders Konstantinos Mavropanos and Daniel Ballard also departed on permanent deals to Stuttgart and Sunderland respectively for a combined £5m.

In total, Swiss Ramble have stated estimated annual savings have come to £101m, with £62m saved in wages and £39m from player amortisation.

But while Arsenal have saved a pretty penny, they have also splashed the cash with no Premier League side boasting a higher net spend in the last two seasons than them.

Their net spend is a staggering £218m – £1m higher than London rivals Chelsea – though the Blues could overtake the Gunners before the transfer window slams shut on September 1.

Big money signings include Ben White [£50m], Gabriel Jesus [£45m], Oleksandr Zinchenko [£32m], Fabio Vieira [£34m] and Martin Odegaard [£30m].

Their transfer activity has been a huge gamble for Arteta and technical director Edu as they look to bring Arsenal back to the Champions League for the first time since 2017.

But their strategy appears to be working as they currently sit top of the table having won their opening three games of the season.

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk