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Chloe Knott – Danehouse/Getty Images
Mikel Arteta has discussed the impact the lack of UEFA Champions League football has had on Arsenal’s finances ahead of the summer transfer window.
Arteta’s comments come after the Gunners announced a post-tax loss of £27.1 million for 2018-19, down from a profit of £56.5 million the year before.
The Spaniard said:
“The damage caused by the club not being in the Champions League for the third season is really big.
“Financially the impact is enormous because the structure of this club is built to be in the Champions League, and you can sustain that for one year or two, but then after you have to start making decisions.
“So we will have to make decisions one way or the other depending on the scenario we find ourselves in, whether we are in the Champions League, Europa League or nowhere near that.
“And we’ll have a very clear plan of what we want to do and depending where we are we have to act like this.”
The coach added that the club will have no “margin for error” with the decisions they’ll need to make in the transfer market because of their precarious situation.
Arsenal chairman Sir Chips Keswick has also pointed to the lack of Champions League football as the biggest contributor to the Gunners’ struggles, which could be set to worsen, per Football.London’s James Benge:
James Benge @jamesbenge
Arsenal already on track to lose tens of millions over coming 12 months due to Europa League elimination *and* rebate for season ticket holders as they will not play required number of games for cup credit
The Gunners played Champions League football every season under Arsene Wenger from 1998-99 until his final campaign, the 2016-17 season.
Wenger guided them to fifth in the Premier League in his last season in charge, and they’re yet to finish in the top four again.
Arsenal had the chance to secure Champions League qualification last season by winning the UEFA Europa League after they got to the final, but they lost to local rivals Chelsea 4-1.
The lack of Champions League revenue caused them to drop to 11th in Deloitte’s 2020 Football Money League, having dropped from sixth place to ninth last year.
Football finance blog Swiss Ramble provided further insight into their struggles, as they’ve also seen a drop-off in income from player sales:
Swiss Ramble @SwissRamble
#AFC swung from £70m profit before tax to £32m loss, a £102m deterioration, very largely due to profit on player sales falling by £108m from £120m to £12m, though revenue rose slightly by £7m (2%) to £395m. After tax, went from £57m profit to £27m loss (£5m tax credit). https://t.co/BTRnT41Udg
In 2018, the Gunners sold Lucas Perez to West Ham United for £4 million, two years after paying a reported £17.1 million for him. They also lost Jack Wilshere and Santi Cazorla for free.
Last summer, Aaron Ramsey and Danny Welbeck also departed the club on free transfers, although they did make more than £40 million from the combined exits of Alex Iwobi, Krystian Bielik, Laurent Koscielny and David Ospina.
The Gunners were knocked out of the UEFA Europa League by Olympiacos on Thursday, so there will be no repeat of last year’s run to the final.
In the Premier League they’re eight points off fourth-place Chelsea with a game in hand. Fifth might provide Champions League football this season following Manchester City’s European ban, though. The Gunners are five points behind Manchester United in fifth, again with a game in hand.
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