Arsenal are highly unlikely to make any signings in January according to a feature in the Mail on Sunday.
In a ‘special report’ compiled by Rob Draper, Raul Sanllehi revealed that he ‘doesn’t believe’ in the January transfer window. Unless there are serious injuries, Arsenal’s shop will remain shut.
“I don’t believe much in the winter window,” Sanllehi said. “There are exceptions. But if you have the right planification (sic) in the summer and the team are performing at the level you expect, you should not go to that window or try to avoid it.
“It’s there for emergencies, a big injury or if something is really not working and you need to recover there. I give much more importance to the summer windows.”
Arsene Wenger wasn’t much of a fan of the January window either. He believed that prices were inflated due to the ‘panicky’ nature of having to buy mid-season.
“We did investment (this summer) very early because we understand this market as being inflationary, so the longer you take to make the signings the higher the prices normally become,” Sanllehi added. “We did all the homework beforehand, I would say from February, March.”
It has also been reported that Arsenal will only have £40m to spend in the transfer window next summer, a figure that Draper repeats in this article.
There are, according to Draper and history, no plans for Stan Kroenke to inject any of his own cash into the club to buy players.
Sanllehi believes, however, that he would be open to providing cash should Arsenal find an exceptional player outside of their ‘normal’ budget. “They [the Kronkes] would definitely listen,” adds Sanllehi. “Let’s cross that bridge when we get to it. They have proven to us that they are extremely reasonable, and passionate about this project.
“We have a direct line with them, we talk constantly and they are very intelligent people. If there is a very clear opportunity, we would definitely talk to them about it.”
The main problem at Arsenal at present is the wage bill, inflated by the mega-rise handed to Mesut Ozil and the wages offered to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan which all shattered the strict structure in place to avoid this sort of problem.
It is seen as the main reason Aaron Ramsey’s contract offer was withdrawn. Arsenal are, however, committed to being self-sustaining.
“It definitely puts stress on efficiency,” said Sanllehi. “We need to be very, very efficient in the design of the first team. We need to be very efficient in the way we play and the way we generate the income to put more fuel into the machine.
“There are other clubs financed by other means. That’s not our case and it’s not our model. Every club have their own way of doing things.
“Definitely, Arsenal are at the world level, where they can compete with everybody. Your level is not only a case of how much you can pay your players. We need to do things very well, yes. We need to do things sharp. But I believe we can compete with anybody.”