Arsenal director Lord Harris says we have £200m to spend
On Arsenal's current war chest and available funds:
Money was tight when we moved to the Emirates but it’s a lot freer now. We could go into the market and probably buy any player in the world, apart from half a dozen who are un-buyable. In the accounts, there’s over £200million in the bank. You could say to Arsene we’ve got no money and he wouldn’t worry, or you could give him £100m and he might not spend it
On being willing to break the bank to get the player Wenger wants:
At the moment there are no plans to sign anyone, unless he finds a real superstar like Mesut Ozil or Alexis Sanchez. He’s looking for one of those but there aren’t many available. We would back him to break the club’s transfer record. If he wanted the man, he could have him. Apart from Messi and Ronaldo, he could have any player. We will probably have to break the club record to get the man he wants.
Despite saying there aren't any plans to sign anyone, Lord Harris reveals we are actually planning to sign someone:
We get a list of the players that Wenger wants. On the list is a centre forward, but I’m not going to tell you who he is. You’ve got to get the other team to want to sell him, but I think he wants to come. It basically comes down to whether the other team can find a superstar to replace him, because they don’t have to sell.
On signing Petr Cech:
[Wenger] also wanted a top goalie, so we went out and got him. John Terry said that Cech will gain us 15 points a year, which would have won us the league last season. Since Jens Lehmann or David Seaman, we’ve not really had a world-class goalie. We made enquiries about Cech last summer but Chelsea couldn’t sell him because they didn’t know how Courtois was going to settle in.
On being happy about not signing Raheem Sterling:
Sterling is a very, very good player but I’m very pleased Arsenal didn’t sign him. He’s got a lot to learn. They were looking at him and the way he treated Liverpool wasn’t good. Arsene does a lot of work on the players before they get to us and he doesn’t take any nonsense.
On how shitty Tottenham are:
Tottenham are probably five years behind us now with their development. I don’t think we’re five years behind Real Madrid. It’s not all about spending. If you look at Tottenham, they sold a player for £80m and spent £110m and ended up worse off.
On Wenger not wanting to sign more than three first-team per year:
Generally, Arsene doesn’t think you should fetch more than three first-team players in one season because it takes too long for them to link up. He knows how to produce players, too - we’ve got four or five very good youngsters who are coming through.
Please stop with that 60-70m figure, it's fan fiction created by the AST who keep banging on about their "financial review". The fact is that the AST are just a bunch of blokes sitting around gossiping and guessing at numbers. A few years back they were backed by Arsenal so they're still riding that wave, even though Arsenal now wants nothing to do with them since they ruined the fanshare scheme.
Lord Harris rightly points out that we have £200m cash in the bank, which doesn't mean that we actually have £200m to spend on transfer fees (so the title of this thread is misleading, sorry about that). But he also says the board could give Wenger £100m if they wanted, so the £60-70m is simply incorrect.
Tim Payton and the AST are now trying to retro-fit their numbers into Lord Harris' comments by saying it has to do with operational costs, etc...but at the end of the day they guessed wrong. There is nothing in that number that comes from expertise, experience or knowledge about Arsenal's finances. It was lifted from Swiss Ramble's blog where he talked about a potential £50m war chest a few years ago.
As Lord Harris both says outright and insinuates: there is no fixed transfer budget or 'war chest'. We have £200m cash, so if Wenger wants to buy a player, he'll get the funds for it. If that player costs £150m and we thought he was absolutely necessary, we could spend that type of cash.
Posts
This badge was awarded for creating 200 posts
Comments
This badge was awarded for posting 1,000 comments
Polls
This badge was awarded for creating 10 polls
Membership
This badge was awarded for being member since December 2014
Bergkamp Award
This badge was awarded for being awesome
Admin
This badge was awarded for being an evil genius and coding this whole thing
Original Member
This badge was awarded for registering on Dial Square before 1 Jan 2015
Very interesting comments. We easily have 60-70m to spend and clearly Wenger wants a world class striker; like most fans do.
It could easily be one of five players: Benzema, Lewandowski, Ibrahimovic, Müller, Lacazette
Break the bank rules out Ibra & Laca, although Zlatan's wages probably would break the bank. Bayern would never sell Müller & Schweinsteiger in the same window.
Lewa has been rumoured to want to play in England before and if Rafa fucks Karim about he'll be off to either here or United. It's definitely one of them two imo
Posts
This badge was awarded for creating 5 posts
Comments
This badge was awarded for posting 500 comments
Polls
This badge was awarded for creating a poll
Membership
This badge was awarded for being member since February 2015
Intriguing!
Comments
This badge was awarded for posting 200 comments
Membership
This badge was awarded for being member since December 2014
Original Member
This badge was awarded for registering on Dial Square before 1 Jan 2015
Yawn!
Posts
This badge was awarded for creating 10 posts
Comments
This badge was awarded for posting 200 comments
Polls
This badge was awarded for creating a poll
Membership
This badge was awarded for being member since December 2014
Original Member
This badge was awarded for registering on Dial Square before 1 Jan 2015
Top ITK.
Posts
This badge was awarded for creating 20 posts
Comments
This badge was awarded for posting 200 comments
Polls
This badge was awarded for creating a poll
Membership
This badge was awarded for being member since January 2015
Bergkamp Award
This badge was awarded for being awesome
Please stop with that 60-70m figure, it's fan fiction created by the AST who keep banging on about their "financial review". The fact is that the AST are just a bunch of blokes sitting around gossiping and guessing at numbers. A few years back they were backed by Arsenal so they're still riding that wave, even though Arsenal now wants nothing to do with them since they ruined the fanshare scheme.
Lord Harris rightly points out that we have £200m cash in the bank, which doesn't mean that we actually have £200m to spend on transfer fees (so the title of this thread is misleading, sorry about that). But he also says the board could give Wenger £100m if they wanted, so the £60-70m is simply incorrect.
Tim Payton and the AST are now trying to retro-fit their numbers into Lord Harris' comments by saying it has to do with operational costs, etc...but at the end of the day they guessed wrong. There is nothing in that number that comes from expertise, experience or knowledge about Arsenal's finances. It was lifted from Swiss Ramble's blog where he talked about a potential £50m war chest a few years ago.
As Lord Harris both says outright and insinuates: there is no fixed transfer budget or 'war chest'. We have £200m cash, so if Wenger wants to buy a player, he'll get the funds for it. If that player costs £150m and we thought he was absolutely necessary, we could spend that type of cash.
Posts
This badge was awarded for creating 200 posts
Comments
This badge was awarded for posting 1,000 comments
Polls
This badge was awarded for creating 10 polls
Membership
This badge was awarded for being member since December 2014
Bergkamp Award
This badge was awarded for being awesome
Admin
This badge was awarded for being an evil genius and coding this whole thing
Original Member
This badge was awarded for registering on Dial Square before 1 Jan 2015
Additionally you never pay everything up front, and if required the club could easily go into debt to buy players. Arsenal could probably spend 500m and be perfectly fine.
Comments
This badge was awarded for posting 50 comments
Membership
This badge was awarded for being member since April 2015
Yup, it's more down to the balance of quality vs cost than some imaginary war chest. Could we buy Benzema for £150m? Sure. Would we? Not a chance. He's not a £150m player, and everyone knows it. However, if Real Madrid offered us Ronaldo for £150m, I think we would actually pay it.
Posts
This badge was awarded for creating 200 posts
Comments
This badge was awarded for posting 1,000 comments
Polls
This badge was awarded for creating 10 polls
Membership
This badge was awarded for being member since December 2014
Bergkamp Award
This badge was awarded for being awesome
Admin
This badge was awarded for being an evil genius and coding this whole thing
Original Member
This badge was awarded for registering on Dial Square before 1 Jan 2015
This is kind of what we've been waiting for ever since we first built the Emirates. Wenger knows what he's doing when it comes to money. That's something you could probably never say about someone like Mourinho or Ferguson (they just spend what's put in front of them! Although FFP has meant Mourinho has done a better job in recent years.)
Posts
This badge was awarded for creating 20 posts
Comments
This badge was awarded for posting 200 comments
Polls
This badge was awarded for creating a poll
Membership
This badge was awarded for being member since January 2015
Bergkamp Award
This badge was awarded for being awesome
Yeah but realistically were not spending 100m. 60-70m is pretty much bang on what is necessary to get a top striker and a second choice DM. We could spend about 500m and still be well within FFP, but obviously that isn't logical.
Posts
This badge was awarded for creating 5 posts
Comments
This badge was awarded for posting 500 comments
Polls
This badge was awarded for creating a poll
Membership
This badge was awarded for being member since February 2015
I would hope RM President Perez read the Lord Harris' interview. This interview will trigger Perez's thinking process like: 1. Arsenal director has come out and signal to spend, they have tried for Dortmund's Aubameyang BUT was rejected. What IF Arsenal increase Aubameyang bid to be accept & Reus turns to lead Dortmund? What IF Arsenal goes for Marco Reus? It's within Arsenal spending power... Hmmm... And... thinking... 2. Benitez wants to shift Ronaldo to central role BUT Benzema UNABLE shifts to wings & is coming NEAR 28 years Old... Do we(RM) sells Benzema & use the funds to buy Reus and fit into Benitez's plan...
Well...Well... the Mind game has started...
Membership
This badge was awarded for being member since July 2015
Usually Top clubs will play their cards close to their chest. And to boost valuation, Top clubs NEVER put Star players on market & will make it loud they're not willing to sell. It's a highly patience game... Being a Arsenal director and a salesman since 15 yrs old, Lord Harris knows ways to give some pressure on selling party that Arsenal has other STAR players choices than the MAIN Target (Probably Benzema)... If analyse closely, there are trails that a POSSIBLE Arsenal STAR signing can be happen... 5 more weeks for mind games before window closes...
Membership
This badge was awarded for being member since July 2015
Arsenal signed Mesut Ozil in Sep 2013 and Germany won Wold Cup 2014... Arsenal signed Alexis Sanchez in July 2014 and Chile won Copa America 2015... Euro 2016??? Let's see can Arsenal sign their Main Target...
Membership
This badge was awarded for being member since July 2015
You are not logged in!
Join Arsenal Report today to improve your experience using the site with thread subscriptions + custom profile with cover image and favourite XI + the ability to post comments, polls and AMA questions.