It was recently revealed that Arsenal owners KSE have restructured the club’s stadium debt in order to try and ease the financial difficulty the north London giants may be facing.
The Gunners are currently ninth in the Premier League and will be hoping to secure qualification for next season’s UEFA Europa League by improving their league position or by winning the FA Cup for the financial boost it would provide.
Mikel Arteta revealed he has a ‘big concern’ with regards to whether or not he will be provided with the transfer funds he feels are needed in order to improve his squad this summer.
Speaking on a recent episode of The Price of Football podcast, Kieran Maguire took the time to explain what the restructure looks like in layman’s terms, he said: “It’s effectively the same as remortgaging, but the benefit for Arsenal is they currently owe around about £209m to banks and to bondholders and they’re paying quite a bit of interest on that. Arsenal have the third-highest interest cost of clubs in the Premier League. It’s £11m a year.
“[I] wouldn’t say they’re struggling financially, but they’re trying to find their feet in a football world where they’re not qualifying for the Champions League anymore and it looks like they potentially aren’t going to qualify for the Europa League as well.
“What’s happened is that the Arsenal owner, ‘silent’ Stan Kroenke, he’s effectively paid off the existing loans and he’s going to lend money to the club itself, ideally interest-free but it could be at least at a lower interest [rate].”
Do you believe this restructure will result in Mikel Arteta being handed more transfer funds?
Yes
No
TIF Thoughts…
Based on Maguire’s description of the restructure, it appears this is a smart move in order to try and reduce the club’s financial commitments, subsequently reducing the possible impact of the recent global pandemic on the club’s finances.
Whether or not that means more funds will be made available to Arteta in the summer, however, remains to be seen.