Football journalist David Ornstein has been sharing some information on the current financial situation at Arsenal.
This comes after Ornstein recently co-hosted the latest episode of The Athletic’s Ornstein & Chapman Podcast where he spoke about a variety of topics surrounding a number of Premier League clubs.
During the episode, Ornstein was asked if Arsenal would first need to move some current players out of the club if they wish to bring in players they have been linked with such as Thomas Partey and Houssem Aouar, to which Ornstein gave this response.
He said: “They need to move players on, the likes of Lucas Torreira, Matteo Guendouzi, Sokratis [Papastathopoulos], potentially some loan deals for young players, we mentioned Reiss Nelson might be one who goes out on loan.
“Squad space is an issue, the finances when I said I’m not sure about that, I don’t know whether we would see some backing from the ownership.
“We haven’t in the past in terms of financial input, but they have put mechanisms and instruments in place to allow greater spending.
“We saw that with Nicolas Pepe, we know that Arsenal’s stadium debt was refinanced to allow them greater flexibility in the transfer market.
“It’s not right for me to start pontificating over the exact finances when we just don’t know exactly how that would work, but the fact that they are in contention for these sorts of players suggests that there is some flexibility.
“There will need to be some outgoings whether it’s before or after, I don’t think it really matters with a week to go. If there are players going, then you need to be pretty sure about it by now.”
So far in the current transfer window, Mikel Arteta’s side has spent a total sum of £32.4 million on bringing in players such as Gabriel, Pablo Mari and Runar Runarsson.
Arsenal currently have 32 players in their squad, which is the joint second-biggest squad in the Premier League alongside Everton and Newcastle United with only Chelsea having more players in their squad at this moment in time (per Transfermarkt).
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TIF Thoughts…
Given how Arsenal do have quite a lot of players in their squad at the minute, it would probably make sense from a financial point of view to try and cash in on some of those players if that would allow them to bring in the new faces they want to sign.
With the transfer window closing next week, it’ll be interesting to see if any of the players Ornstein mentioned in the podcast will leave the club or not.