Arsenal have spent less than several English clubs between 2010-2015 but does it really matter, if we’re not winning trophies?

According to Deloitte‘s review of football finance, Arsenal spent less on transfers between 2010 and 2015 than Manchester City (£466m), Chelsea (£326m), Manchester United (£273) and Liverpool (£211). This doesn’t come as a huge surprise considering we only bought two expensive players during that time: Mesut Ozil (£42.5) and Alexis Sanchez (£31.7).

What does come as a shock is the fact that West Ham (£88) and QPR (£90) have spent more as well.

Arsenal reportedly only spent £87m between 2010/11 – 2014/15 – only £2m more than Sunderland. Well, I never.

515981550 mesut ozil and alexis sanchez of arsenal gettyimages
BARCELONA, SPAIN – MARCH 16: Mesut Ozil (R) and Alexis Sanchez (L) of Arsenal leave the pitch at the half time during the UEFA Champions League round of 16, second Leg match between FC Barcelona and Arsenal FC at Camp Nou on March 16, 2016 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

But honestly: Who cares?

Once upon a time, we used to pride ourselves on recruiting from within and developing our own talent. We didn’t need the bucks to put together a decent squad; all we needed was one or two big names and the rest we could produce ourself. However, when your closest rivals are spending those big bucks and you’re there finishing fourth and only able to win the FA Cup… Do we really care how little we’ve spent? Does it come as adequate consolation that we haven’t won the Premier League for over a decade?

While I’m not insinuating we blow our entire budget, not spending a lot of money on new players means we need to be creating our own and if we’re not doing that – other than say, Alex Iwobi – we shoot ourselves in the foot.