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Before the summer started, Arsenal were widely reported to only have limited funds available to spend in the transfer market, with a budget of between £40 and £45 million often quoted.
Yet, in the event, the Gunners spent close to £154 million on new players during the window, and, although player sales brought in over £50 million, there were still question marks about how Arsenal had managed this given their restricted transfer kitty.
In part, this can be explained by the way that certain of the transfer deals have been structured. Winger Nicolas Pépé will be paid for over several seasons, for example, whilst much of the payment for William Saliba has been deferred.
Yet now it appears that owner Stan Kroenke put some of his own money into the club to help fund the difference, rather than rely on the business professed “self-sustaining” business model.
The Kroenke family are notoriously tight-lipped when commenting on their ownership of the club, although son Josh, who is the public face of the owners, merely confirmed that Arsenal would aggressive in the transfer market, and that “fans should read between the lines”.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.