Arsene Wenger has been hailed as a master of business, a company man, for years… but is he really?
While Wenger has undoubtedly kept Arsenal out of hot water since their move from Highbury, over recent seasons, his ability to make money appears to be diminishing.
A pretty telling piece, penned by Le Grove, breaks down exactly where Wenger could be losing the club money just this season, and the figures aren’t looking good. In fact, the Frenchman could be losing Arsenal up to £212m.
After finishing fifth last term, the Gunners have to go without Champions League football for the first time in two decades. Not only has it cost them in terms of prestige, with now Alexis Sanchez wanting out as a result, it’s also cost them financially.
The prize money for reaching the final 16 of the Champions League is around £36m, with the winners taking home up to £52m.
In the Europa League, you only get £5.6m for reaching the final 16 and, at the moment, £15.6m for winning the whole damn thing.
This theoretically loses Arsenal over £30m just by finishing that one point below Liverpool in May.
Combine this with the potential transfer fees of players who have run into the final years of their contracts without an extension in sight.
While it does appear that Mesut Ozil will probably stay, by not selling him and allowing his contract negotiations to rumble on, the club could be losing £40m, while Jack Wilshere, Alexis Sanchez and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain could make Arsenal £110m.
So, that’s another £150m potentially down the drain.
Then there’s the massive wages, which the likes of Carl Jenkinson and Kieran Gibbs are on compared to squad players from other Premier League clubs, which means that Arsenal can’t seem to offload them. Hence Jenks skipping off the Birmingham on loan and, by the sounds of it, signing a two-year contract extension in north London.
That’s another £625k-per-week, or £32m in total, that the Gunners are forking out for deadwood.
The final figure that Le Grove has calculated for their piece is £212,885,227 that Wenger could be stopping the club from getting this season.
That’s an awfully big number for a man who’s famed for being good at making, or at least keeping, money.