According to a planet football article I saw on it from this year, Arsenal's cost around £720m, while Liverpool's cost £660m. So the difference isn't huge to be fair.
But like I always say on here, what rankles with me is that we earned being able to spend what we did - not necessarily just by selling players, but also by doing well and building the success from 2016-2019. And we're a bigger club than Arsenal to start with.
For years and years, Arsenal did zilch in the league, didn't qualify for the CL, spent fortunes on shite that ended up going for very little, and yet suddenly here they are outspending us constantly. Now linked with Isak and Oliseh for probably £160m without selling anyone.
I know you always argue that it's a different approach from the owners - the Kroenkes are happy to go for it a bit, while FSG are much more run to a formula designed to break even and not take risks. And that's all fine to say, but it doesn't half feel a bit unfair to be constantly overpowered in the market by a team who were shite for years while we were getting everything right.
I get your frustration. The problem you had, was your revenues were rising but at the same time your costs, especially you wages, were rising at a similar level because you were being successful, meaning for a club that was set on breaking even you didn’t have massive wiggle room, so your sales helped fund some spend.
Our revenues were at a lower level but so were our outgoings, to the point we actually had actually cut the wage bill at one point. But you are right, at 1 point KSE became a bit more flexible in absorbing some losses, obviously the Covid affected seasons make these losses even more inflated. I think the accounts showed we borrowed an extra £41M from KSE last season, so about enough to cover a standard transfer.
However, we are at the point where with our ‘limited success’ our revenues will go up, but at the same time so will our wage bill. So will be interesting to see the transfer strategy going forward, because they always say this is a temporary measure, it’s all being done with a view to returning to a self sustaining model.
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