Arsenal could do something for first time since 2018 with projected £548m finance reveal
Mikel Arteta has restored Arsenal to former glories in so many ways but there is still one thing – besides the Premier League title –...
Mikel Arteta has restored Arsenal to former glories in so many ways but there is still one thing – besides the Premier League title – that the club are yet to achieve under the Spaniard’s leadership.
Trusted more than any other manager in the Stan Kroenke era, Arteta has had a remarkable degree of autonomy in terms of steering the club according to his vision.
But while Arteta would love to have complete creative control at the Emirates, that vision has to exist within the financial margins that are set out by the owners, the Premier League and UEFA.
Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) are one factor, limiting financial losses to a maximum of £105m over a rolling three-year assessment window.
Cash flow – which, unlike Arsenal‘s profit-and-loss reporting, is a measure of how much money the club have in the bank – is another consideration.
As the de-facto face of the club in the absence of a weekly press conferences from Stan or Josh Kroenke, Arteta needs to be far more clued up on the finances than the average armchair accountant.
And he will therefore be delighted by one research firm’s latest projections regarding Arsenal.
Arsenal on course to smash finance record
2023-24 was another season of renaissance for Arsenal.
Yes, they missed out on the Premier League title for a second successive year, but their return to the Champions League after a seven-season absence signalled their return as a European giant.
Their run to the quarter-finals, where they were eventually beaten over two legs by Harry Kane’s Bayern Munich, was reportedly worth up to £75m.
That is one reason that Off The Pitch, a top football data and insights firm used by FIFA and the Premier League, project Arsenal will set a new revenue record when they release their accounts for the season.
They forecast that the Gunners’ takings from commercial, matchday and media streams will reach £548m.
Significantly, Off The Pitch also estimate that Arsenal will post a modest pre-tax profit of around £4.3m.
That will be the first profit of the Arteta era, as well as the first since the 2017-18 financial year.
PSR and Stan Kroenke’s Arsenal model
Under the Premier League current PSR system, Arsenal are allowed to lose no more than £105m over a rolling three-year assessment period.
Arsenal’s combined losses in 2021-22 and 2022-23 were just south of £100m.
However, a number of allowable costs – such as infrastructure investment, pandemic-related expenses, and spending on the academy mean they plenty of headroom under PSR.
Analysis from leading football finance expert Swiss Ramble has found that the Gunners had approximately £100m of margin for error under PSR in 2023-24.
Essentially, that means they could have spent another £100m without feeling the wrath of the Premier League’s PSR enforcers.
UEFA’s system – which the Premier League will mirror from next season – is slightly different, limiting clubs to spending 80 per cent of revenue on wages, transfers and agent fees (70 per cent from 2025-26).
But again, Arsenal have plenty of wriggle room under UEFA’s set of rules.
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