Arsenal have announced a loss of £3.4m for the six months ending with November 2015.

After a long period of austerity and stadium payments, the Gunners have been spending big on star names and – obviously – that comes at a cost. In these financial reports, the transfer fees are spread over the length of the contract the player signs, so the £27.5m loss on player trading includes portions of past deals as well as the money paid to sign Petr Čech.

Without selling star names to balance the books, that’s where Arsenal have lost money compared to previous years.

“The amortisation component of player trading has further increased to £29.2 million (2014 – £25.6 million),” said the official club statement. “However, profits on sale of players were significantly reduced at just £0.3 million in contrast to £26.7 million for the comparative period. There were no major sales in the period as the Club retained all of its key players.”

That’s the major difference nowadays, with Arsenal spending more on players and not selling them either, it’s obviously going to take a toll financially.

“The after tax result for the period is a loss of £3.4 million (2014 – profit of £6.2 million).”

Turns out Arsenal don’t make a profit when they sign big players and keep big players. Who could’ve guessed?

The incredible rise in Premier League money next season will almost certainly see us make a profit again, but when wages and transfer fees rise accordingly (and we have to spend more money than ever to compete). Despite an increase in turnover in 2015 (£160m, up from £149m the previous year) we made a loss.

The cash reserves at the club remain high, over £135m, so the money is there to be spent in the summer should the club feel the need to spend it. Fees and contracts are expensive if you want quality, but Arsenal can afford them.