Arsenal have started to spend more money over the last few years, despite what many will tell you, but are the team actually getting any better as a result?

Ivan Gazidis argued at the Arsenal AGM in October that the Gunners were the most efficient club in terms of net transfer spend to points earned and trophies won. However, there appears to be a large disparity between that level of efficiency over the last three or four years, compared to the last 15.

Over the last 15 years, Arsenal have been more efficient than any other club.

The Gunners spent £226m between 2002 and 2017, which gives the club 5.3 points per million pounds spent. Spurs are the closest behind, with 4.4 points, but teams like Manchester United and Manchester City are way off, with 1.6 points and 0.9 points respectively (via 7amkickoff.com).

However, look at just the last four seasons, and the picture changes completely.

Arsenal’s points per million spent drops to 1.3, and the Gunners are overtaken by Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham. The implication is that as the club’s spending has increased, their efficiency at turning spending into points actually decreased.

Of course, that doesn’t take into account the trophies the Gunners have won, which was clearly part of Gazidis’ initial statement. Excluding Community Shields (as no-one except Jose Mourinho seems to count them as trophies), here is Arsenal’s rate of trophy success versus amount spent over the last four years and 15 years:

Over 15 years, the net spend is £226m, and Arsenal won one Premier League title and five FA Cups. That means the Gunners have spent £15.1m (net) per season, and won 0.4 trophies per season.

Over four years, the net spend is £224m, and Arsenal have won three FA Cups. That means the Gunners net spend has shot up to £56m per season, but the number of trophies won has also increased, to 0.75.

So Arsenal are spending much more, but also winning more.

Unfortunately though, the team aren’t winning enough to justify the extra expense at this stage.

Over the 15-year-period, the Gunners have won a trophy for every £37.67m spent, but over the last four they’ve had to spend £74.67m for that piece of silverware.

Of course, inflation comes into things in a big way, considering how much more money is being injected into the Premier League every year, but the rate of inflation isn’t nearly enough to justify going from £2m net spend from 2002 to 2013 to £224m net spend for the following four years.

So I wouldn’t say that Arsenal have been getting any more efficient recently, but I also wouldn’t say that the Gunners are getting worse, the more they spend.

In fact, their recent trophy record suggests they’re getting better as they spend money, they’re just not improving at the same rate as their spend is increasing.

But that’s for the shareholders to worry about.

As a fan, I’d rather Arsenal won more trophies per year in a slightly less efficient manner than the other way around.