Kieran Maguire: Arsenal face ‘incurring significant losses’ after £244m reveal
Arsenal will struggle to compete with their elite rivals in the Premier League in the long term with their current level of wage spending.
That is the view of finance guru Kieran Maguire, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about Arsenal’s accounts for the 2020-21 financial year.
The Gunners revealed an eye-watering £107.3m loss in the results published last Monday (28 February).
Revenue totalled £327.6m, and £244.4m of that figure went out again in the form of salary costs.
Mike Arteta’s side are currently 4th in the Premier League with games in hand on their rivals for lucrative Champions League spots.
But Maguire claims that Arsenal will struggle to maintain their position in the long term while they spend comparatively little on wages.
He told Football Insider‘s Adam Williams: “The question is, who are we benchmarking Arsenal against?
“City are on £355m, Chelsea on £333m, Man United on £323m, Liverpool £311. Arsenal are around £100m less than their peers.
“Money buys success. They are in a sticky situation. If they try to catch the others up, they will incur significant losses.
“You’re not going to get to catch up with them in a single year. That makes the objective, which is top four, a lot more difficult.
“It’s not going to be impossible because they are in a good position at the moment, but it does make it that more difficult.”
Arsenal climbed into the top four with a 3-2 victory at Watford yesterday (6 March).
The Londoners are next in action against Leicester City on Sunday (13 March).
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