My last post suggested that Arsenal
were about to start generating a lot of cash. Time to explain why, starting with the current
season.
We already know that player trading
last summer will be bringing in just over £10m, because the club has disclosed
that. We also know that a similar amount
will be coming in from Barratt Homes (see previous post). And we also know that the club is through to
the last 16 of the Champions League.
That’s the stage they got to last season – but this season the prize
money pool is 20pc bigger. So Arsenal
can look forward to a 20pc rise in their earnings from the competition, even
without progressing to the next stage.
Put all that together, allow for some
inflation in player wages, and it looks to me as though net cash generation this season was on course to hit £20m. Wenger then spent £10m in the January
transfer window (on Malaga’s Monreal), thus leaving an equal amount for the board to
add to the club’s pile of cash. And it
could get better still. Bayern Munich
are odds-on to knock Arsenal out of the Champions League when they meet, but if
Arsenal could prevail, they’d earn perhaps another £4m. So the club is on course to record a rather impressive surplus this season. In a future post, I’ll look at what next
season might bring.
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