GRV Media’s Head of Football Finance and Governance Content Adam Williams spoke exclusively to Arsenal Insider about the recent financial results of Arsenal and Manchester City.
There has been a lot of talk about money from Pep Guardiola recently. He aimed a dig at Arsenal and other clubs who have a higher net spend than City in recent years.
He said after the January transfer window: “I am a little bit sad and upset because our net spend in the past five years we are seventh in the Premier League. So, I want to be the first, so I don’t understand why the club has not spent more money. So, I am a little bit grumpy with them.”
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That did sound sarcastic, but Guardiola ended his rant by saying: “This is a fact, it is not an opinion.”
However, the Manchester City boss conveniently left out his side’s amortisation costs and wage bill compared to those of Arsenal.
Finance expert highlights Manchester City’s £602m advantage over Arsenal
Net spend is often used by some clubs to justify spending fortunes, but for Adam Williams, that factor is redundant in Manchester City’s case.
The finance expert told Arsenal Insider: “Net spend is always a crude metric to use. For starters, most people only look at one or two windows. At least Guardiola has looked a little further back. But the argument he is making is, in my view, pretty redundant.
“One of the reasons their net spend is lower than you might initially expect is because of the sales they have made from their academy and the players who’ve moved to Manchester City from the wider City Football Group.
“They have executed the strategy perfectly, but the fact that they have been able to do so is because of the enormous investment from Abu Dhabi in infrastructure, buying clubs abroad, and pooling certain costs at the City Football Group level, rather than at Manchester City themselves.”
Coming down to the figures, Williams told us how much bigger City’s costs are compared to Arsenal’s.
“City’s total amortisation – which is how football clubs account for the cost of new signings and agents’ fees over the length of a player’s contract – over the last five years up until the end of 2024-25 was £767m. Arsenal’s was £552m.
“Player sale profits have then shifted the dynamic massively. City have made profits of £492m, while Arsenal are at £178m – and that is after the several ‘pure profit’ sales they made last summer. There’s no doubt that Arsenal have to start selling better; it’s a part of the game now. But you can’t compare apples and oranges.”
Finally, speaking about the difference in wage bill that Guardiola conveniently left out while firing his shots at Arsenal and other clubs, Williams revealed that City have a £602 million advantage over the Gunners.
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He said: “In terms of the argument about the wage bill, City are among the highest payers in world football. They’ve paid players and staff £1.962bn in the last five financial years.
“Arsenal are in the process of ramping up the wage bill, but they are at £1.360bn. So there’s a £602m discrepancy over the last five years alone. And there is a much, much tighter correlation between success on the pitch and the wage bill than there is with net spend.
“Both clubs have received external investment from the owners. But Stan Kroenke’s at £340m is light years behind City’s since Abu Dhabi bought the club.”
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