Their Premier League title dreams may be pretty much over, but Arsenal have already achieved the goal they set out to achieve at the start of the season. In Mikel Arteta and Edu's project the plan was to have achieved Champions League qualification by this season, and with five games to go they did exactly that.
While the Gunners have a long history in Europe's top competition, it's unchartered territory for most of the current squad. Mikel Arteta has already admitted that things are going to change as they look to adapt to the new challenge of playing elite level football every three days.
"With the level that is required for the Premier League and to fight for the Champions League, the way we have to fight for the Champions League, there’s a lot to think about," he admitted after the 3-0 defeat to Brighton on Sunday. With that in mind football.london takes a look at what Champions League qualification will really mean for Arsenal.
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Finances
Arsenal are in a strong financial position right now. The massive squad overhaul that has taken place over the past two years was, of course, about adapting to Mikel Arteta's style of play, but reducing the wage bill was also a huge factor. The policy of signing players aged 25 and under over the past two summers has ensured that the Gunners are spending far less on player salaries than before.
Despite being second in the Premier League they only have the division's sixth-highest wage bill and spend less than half of what Chelsea or Manchester United do. It's for this reason that they now feel they can be proactive when it comes to extending the contracts of players like Gabriel, Gabriel Martinelli, Aaron Ramsdale and Martin Odegaard.
On top of that, the Gunners are reaping the rewards of the post-COVID boom in attendances. Arsenal as a club benefit massively from the matchday revenue that they are able to generate from games at the Emirates Stadium. Last season they generated £79.4 million in matchday revenue compared to just £3.8 million in the pandemic-impacted prior year. The high demand for tickets has bolstered their coffers massively in comparison to when they were forced to refinance some of the stadium debt in order to improve liquidity a few years ago.
Stan and Josh Kroenke have also upped their investment in the club. Since becoming majority owner of Arsenal KSE they have looked to ramp up their spending, and over the past two summers they have shown a willingness to back Arteta and Edu's project. That would have been there regardless this summer. KSE's willingness to spend nearly £100million on Mykhailo Mudryk in January is proof of this. However, this will only be helped by the bonus of Champions League revenue.
Clubs in this season's Champions League have been guaranteed £13million for merely reaching the group stage. There are also performance-based bonuses, such as £2.3million per win. This is a massive upgrade on the Europa League where teams receive £3million for reaching the group stages, and £527,000 per win. That is before you factor in the lucrative broadcast deals that the Champions League generates.
Arsenal also stand to earn a significant amount from finishing second in the Premier League. Last season Liverpool earned £159.8million for finishing as runners-up, which is £8.2million more than the Gunners received in fifth. By contrast, winning the FA Cup is worth less than £5m in prize money with the Carabao Cup closer to £1m.
Transfers
You may not be surprised to learn that the increased revenues from Champions League football gives Arsenal more financial muscle in the transfer market. Edu has shown a willingness in the past to walk away from deals for players like Joao Felix, Dusan Vlahovic and Lisandro Martinez if he feels they are not financially viable for the long-term interests of the club. But he will have a higher budget than in previous seasons this summer.
It is for this reason that the club feel confident that they will be able to break their club record transfer fee in order to secure the services of Declan Rice. Reports have suggested they are looking to structure a £92million deal for Rice, which would comfortably eclipse the £72million they spent on Nicolas Pepe in 2019.
The spending will not stop there as Arsenal are keen to bring in a defender who can help provide more depth in the back four. This will be a running theme of their transfer business across the window as they seek to raise the overall standard of the squad to compete in both the Premier League and the Champions League. It is for this reason that they are also looking at bringing in a forward player. They may also look to bring in another central midfielder as well as Rice, but this is likely to depend on exits.
Sales is a department where Edu will be looking to prove himself this summer. In years gone by Arsenal have struggled to obtain value for players who clearly no longer have a future at the club. This has seen contract terminations for the likes of Mesut Ozil, Shkodran Mustafi, Hector Bellerin and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
There are still some cases where that could happen this summer. Pepe, for example, is a player that Arsenal would like to extract a fee for this summer, but football.london understand plans have been made to terminate the Ivorian's contract at the Emirates if needs must.
Beyond that though, Arsenal will be keen to generate a decent amount of money from players where they are in considerably stronger negotiating positions. Nuno Tavares, Kieran Tierney, Rob Holding, Albert Sambi Lokonga, Charlie Patino, Emile Smith Rowe and Folarin Balogun have all been linked with moves away this summer. There is at least two years left to run on each of these players contracts, and they are all of an age where they can be worth a decent transfer fee.
Edu has asked to be judged for his sales record when it comes to these kind of situations instead of the contract terminations of the past, so it will be interesting to see how he gets on.
Squad rotation
During their time outside of the Champions League, Arsenal have had largely had a Premier League squad and a Europa League squad. Due to the drop off in quality of opposition between the two competitions that has been fine. However, with the increased calibre of teams in the Champions League, it will no longer be an option.
This will provide Arteta with a problem he has yet to really face in his career as Arsenal manager. The Spaniard has generally operated with a core of about 14 or 15 players who he trusts in key matches. It has also seen players like Emile Smith Rowe, Fabio Vieira and Rob Holding more or less frozen out at times, which in turn has seen them struggle to reach their best levels when called upon.
Arteta has been clear when it comes to the likes of Bukayo Saka in the past that elite players must perform to a top level every three days. This is true, but the Spaniard must also find a way of managing his squad better. While Arsenal have seven players who have started more than 30 Premier League games this season, Manchester City have just three.
On top of that there is a real test facing Per Mertesacker and the Arsenal academy set up. Mehmet Ali and Jack Wilshere have had impressive debut seasons in their respective roles as under-21s and under-18s coaches, but it will become increasingly difficult for Arsenal to attract the best talent if there is no obvious pathway to the first team.
The Europa League provided a breeding ground for the likes of Saka, Smith Rowe, Eddie Nketiah and Reiss Nelson to come through into the first team, but in the Champions League minutes to give to young players will be harder to come by.
The situations of Charlie Patino and Flo Balogun, who both look likely to leave this summer, demonstrate this problem perfectly. Arsenal have some highly talented youngsters like Reuell Walters, Lino Sousa, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Amario Cozier-Duberry and Ethan Nwaneri, and Mertesacker has stated that if they are good enough they will get chances. But if Arteta struggles to find a way to rotate his squad more effectively, they could be few and far between.
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