Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has leapt to the defence of the Gunners transfer policy after the club revealed pre-tax profits of £36.6 million for 2011-12.
The Gunners’ 2011-12 profits were due in large part to the transfer fee received for Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri and Gael Clichy.
However, despite getting the likes of Fabregas, Nasri and Clichy off their books, Arsenal’s total spending on player wages increased from £124 million to £143 million.
Furthermore, Arsenal received an astounding £95 million of match-day income in 2011-12. Now then, what does Arsene Wenger think about all of this?
“Our numbers are good,” revealed Wenger. “They are pleasing, very pleasing. We are very lucky because we have good support and the income of our gates is very high.
“We have to maintain that by keeping our fans happy and to continue to manage well in the way we do it.
“We are not scared to spend the money but we feel that even if we spend our money we can’t compete with some clubs on certain players. We want to spend our money in the right way.”
The Gunners manager went on to add that the club were inevitably priced out of the market for Belgian starlet Eden Hazard, who eventually joined Chelsea from Lille OSC for a transfer fee rumoured to be in the region of £32 million.
In other news, Chelsea are set to clash with Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium at the weekend. Can the Gunners knock the Blues off the top of the English Premier League table? We shall see.
Premier League Betting Odds | Arsenal v Chelsea | Saturday, 29 September 2012
Arsenal (5/4) v Chelsea (5/2); Draw (12/5)
Total Goals | Over 2.5 (17/20) | Under 2.5 (19/20)
Goalscorers – Arsenal | Lukas Podolski (11/8) | Olivier Giroud (11/8) | Theo Walcott (2/1)
Goalscorers – Chelsea | Fernando Torres (6/4) | Frank Lampard (11/4) | Eden Hazard (3/1)
Mourinho defends Terry
Former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has insisted that former England defender John Terry is not a racist despite being handed a four-match ban and a £220,000 fine from the English FA.
“He is not a racist,” Mourinho told CNN. “That’s 100%. We [Chelsea] had a squad where we had 12 African players in the squad. It was a fantastic squad and he had always a great relation with every one of them.
“But in football it can happen, and I know it can happen, that during a football match because sometimes it’s more than a game and sometimes you have reactions that don’t represent what you are really.
Due to the aforementioned suspension, Terry will not be able to feature in Roberto Di Matteo’s match-day squad against Arsenal on Saturday.
Expect Gary Cahill to start alongside David Luiz in central defence for the Blues, while Branislav Ivanovic and Ashley Cole round out Di Matteo’s probable back four.
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