Samuel Eto`o and Quaresma...

very intresting thoughts, I think we will only have one big earner in the team after Ljungberg go and that is Gallas who takes 80,000 a week, and do nothing but talking negatively about the club. saving his wages for 3 years and using the money from his sale we could buy a strong and tall ceter back for less wages and arogance.

defo those two players i would love to see at the gunners.Also robinho!

Its not like that at all, it wont be £60m, at least not in the way your looking at it.

Lets say we manage to sign Eto for £18m or so, well according to your philosophy, after wages, on a 4yr contract, he would really cost around £30m if he is on a £80k per week contract.

Not to mention most of our youngsters will demand improoved wages as time passes by, people like Denilson, Diaby, Clichy, Walcott are probably on a fraction of their world class counter parts, e.g Lampard, Ballack, A.Cole and Henry respectively (that was a quick thought out comparisson, not saying Denilson is the same as Lampard, etc...)

Now, I do admit that getting rid of Henry and Freddy puts us in a better financial position, however, you cant use the amount "saved" from their wages and add it to a transfer kitty because whoever we sign also needs to be paid!

Also the amount "saved" in future wages is money that isnt even real, you cant say: "umm if I give up smoking 20 fags a day that will save me around £90k by the time I am 70!, umm I'll give up smoking now and go buy a Porshe!"

I do agree Wenger is amazing when it comes to the financial side of things but he isnt the genius your portraying him to be.

Robinho'z 2 skinny. i herd he only weighs 9-10Stones only.

Took those words right off my lips Erik, we also need to factor the cost of losing Henry.

Henry was the face of Arsenal and his image marketed the Arsenal brand tremendously. Losing him is a cost in forgone future income.. income we wouldve earned should he have stayed (merchandise, image rights etc..)

Come on! Mr Arsene, you are doing a nice job with the way you buy the players you want, i am here prayers for the success f this young players, God is by your side, cos i know you have a player you want to buy, but unknown to them ALL... Watch out, Arsene boys will be greater nex season.

The article is right. The point is that the savings made on salaries result in more profit which can be used to get in more players. The fact that young players will get improved salaries is irrelevant because they will not get Henry salaries and increased costs are accounted for by an increase in stadium, rights, etc. fees. Wenger is doing the right thing and yes, we made REAL profit this summer, even if it's reflected in next year's numbers.

Great point on Wenger's economics, although...

We shouldn't ever forget the chemistry of the side. This isn't fantasy football. We're talking about real human beings.

For that reason alone, Wenger is nervous about off-loading Freddie, and I can see why. Loyal, hard-working servants who can fill in almost anywhere and know what it takes to win trophies are hard to come by. There were plenty of Man U fans who insisted Scholes' time was up before last season -- and look what happened.

Yet the money is tempting, because clearly Freddie is not a regular starter nor dangerous player anymore. Yet again, that's what most people though of Scholes.

So it's a tougher call than we might think.

Likewise the idea of "retail therapy." There is a sackload of young talent at the club now, and it would be possible to buy too many newcomers.

You don't want to get into the Spuds position and keep on switching players just to be doing it. All the chemistry disappears. Remember that Real bought all those galacticos -- some of the best players in the world -- and won nothing for three years.

I love the purchases Arsene has made so far. Each makes perfect sense without wrecking the basic framework of this team.

If he's intending to buy again, I'm hoping it would only be to snatch a truly great impact player -- someone who can walk straight into the side, play Arsenal's type of football and make the club more effective immediately.

If Eduardo truly was bought to be a striker, then a winger like Robinho or Queresma would fit that description.

If Eduardo is meant to play as a winger/scorer like Pires, then Wenger's only logical buy would be another striker -- and it would have to be a great one like Villa. Yes, Martins fits the type but Arsene will know better than any of us about Oba's fits of inconsistency. I'll trust Le Gaffer on that one.

But mindless purchases just to excite supporters and quiet the bloggers isn't Arsene's style -- and thank God for that.

I think it will be instructive to see how AW moves in the next few weeks. There are rumours that Freddie's move to Florence would include the Bulgarian striker Valeri Bojinov coming the other way. He's a guy with bags of potential and I'm dying to know if Arsene rates him.

If so, maybe Freddie goes, Bojinov arrives and Wenger puts away his chequebook.

I wouldn't weep over that, frankly, though I've loved the thought of Robinho at the Emirates from the very start.

If Real do grab Robben, or they sign Drenthe, Robinho will be available. Package deal involving Reyes, perhaps?

Fascinating stuff, really.

But either way, Arsenal are going to be a very, very good side.

A title would take a little luck, the kind United got last year. But anyone who thinks it's out of the question would be the same person who howled with derision when Wenger suggested his team might go a season unbeaten.

Another fan with an economics degree.

great we can be the richest club in the championship. lol mugs

take in the wages of campball pires lauren cole and the reduced wages of db10 and the add on fees from pennant and upson last year and the increase revenue from the emirates stadium and this years transfer sales(no doubt in some ofshore account in guernsey)alledgedly....
yep thats right we are not a football club any more but a business with no football ambition.don't know why as we are not a plc.
this board just want to fleece you and me and get the increase in sky money and the 15m every year from the emirates sponsership with the highbury redevelopment sale..
we are not a football club but a housing association and marketing brand/feeder club to produce young players then sell on.
NO PLAYERS LIKE ETOO ROBINHO QUARESMA ETC ARE COMING IN! hahahaaha.(if we had signed ronaldo instead of man utd did)and he single handedly won us the league as he did last year for utd..then he would be wearing the white of real madrid this season. we think we are as big as man utd when in truth we are nowhere near as big as them! FACT..they can dictate when to sell there players not when the players want to leave!
they have an ambitous manager/board who want to invest in the team..ballaks to the debt they owe(its paper money)theres lots of money that comes in from various areas that you would not notice if the debt is even there.

You haven't factored in merchandising, Arsenal will lose a lot of money through the sale of Henry and Ljungberg. Especially Henry, and that's worldwide. Think how much Beckham made for Real Madrid. Henry is not on that scale but I can imagine you write off £30-£40m

Agree with Tighter, Tighter to a point, but who won the league at Old Trafford?

Also, do we know why Ronaldo stayed at Manure? It can't be b/c in his eyes Manure is as big as Real - unless he's seriously brain damaged by all the rain up there. No Iberian would ever consider Manure bigger than Real (although I fairly despise them both). I think he likes being the big cheese, and at Real he wouldn't necessarily be. But that's a guess.

Tighter Tighter, you are an idiot, you call yourself a fan?

what about the money still owed by madrid? where does your equation fit in there?

I think Reyes will come back to us

I agree with the article, Mr Wenger is the best signing we have ever made. Take him out of the equation, we are a mid-table team. He got us playing football different to the rest of the Premiership. He manages and cares for the Club like his own. People watch most mainly because of the way we play. I know some people are looking at the benefits forgone by selling Henry, but the truth is benefits gained for selling him out weighs benefit forgone. Even Fergie can see that. Have you forgotten his bad body language and attitude in the team throughout last year? I think we him gone now, the young players can blossom without fear of being constantly being reprimanded when genuine mistakes are made. The only thing we are missing now is a winger in the mould of Quaresma, Robinho and Ashley Young. Yes Ashley Young, the boy's got talent.

Yea... AW should sell off the big mouth Gallas. We can save a lot more.

i think the reason ronaldo is still at manure cos they paid him what he would of got at real, when you consider they gave ferdinand 120k a week. seriously if ronaldo didnt carry utd last year who did? rooney, don't think so, average goalkeeper, no, ok vidic was good in defence and i'l say giggs and the ginger tosser done there part but it was mainly down to ronaldos important goals late goals in some games what proved to be important

If Arsenal chose to sell Freddie we will have tp pay-up the remainder of his contract and will only bank the transfer fee.

oh yes make the shareholders even richer.

pathetic.

how do fans win this strategy? its not like we have won anything since this policy two years ago. our season tickets still go up.

btw when you sell a player you don't pay up the remainder of the contract.

the club to which the player is transferred to pays his new salary.