Can Arsenal spend £55m on Suarez?

Arsene Wenger

£55m man? Not without a fight

A bid of £40m for Suarez is roughly 46% of our total budget. Now if Suarez is our one and only target then it’s no big deal and we can up the bid without breaking a sweat but I don’t think that is the case. I think we are looking at two more players at the very least. We could easily pay the £55m Liverpool want but that would leave us with a maximum of £32m in which to buy a minimum of two more players. Let’s say that one of those players is Fabregas. Some think he has already signed for Arsenal and others think that those people are nutters. For the sake of this article let us say that Arsenal are serious about buying him.

Could we get him for £32m? Let’s say yes. Barca still owe us around £10m so we’d still have £10m left over. Could we get a top class centre-back for £10m? It would be very tight.

Arsenal probably do have the money to get all of their targets, irrespective of who they are, but we have to make sure we have enough cash just in case the final piece of our puzzle is snatched away from us because the selling club do a Real Madrid and slap an extra £10m on at the last minute.

So, regardless of how much money we have to spend we still have a budget to work with. Manchester City, Chelsea, PSG and Monaco do not have budgets which is why they can conclude deals quickly. Napoli can conclude their deal for Higuain quickly because they made an astonishing amount of money on Cavani. They still have £20m spare, plus whatever they had before and are in desperate need to replace a top striker with a big enough name to appease the fans and someone who will get goals. Higuain is that person and Napoli were willing to pay the price without negotiation.

Do Arsenal have that luxury? I don’t think we do. I believe we have a budget and getting all of the players we want means we have to negotiate to ensure we have enough cash to obtain all of our targets.

Budget

Some may say that transfer fees aren’t all paid upfront so we can exceed that budget but I believe them to be wrong. Arsenal are no different from a salaried man in the sense that they know, or can estimate, how much money they will make every year and need to ensure they can pay all of their bills. If you earn £1500 a month, your rent is £750 and other bills total £600 you don’t sign a car lease for £150 because you aren’t giving yourself any wiggle room if your bills fluctuate. Arsenal won’t spend £70-100m upfront but they won’t exceed their budget because they know if they do they will be eating into future budgets. The funny thing about strengthening a football team is that it is a short-term measure.

Manchester United also have a budget, which is why they haven’t signed anyone yet. If they were able to just drop £50m on Fabregas, who is probably their top target, they would. Barca wouldn’t turn down that sort of money but United can’t do that without attempting to negotiate first because they run their business relatively responsibly.

Arsenal are a responsible club and will work within the confines of their financial ability. Arsenal will get the players they want but it may take a little time to get the deal they can afford.