Although the club’s annual accounts show funds of £160.2million in the bank, Telegraph Sport can disclose that the actual figure available to Wenger to spend on transfer fees or new player contracts is currently around £50million.This is because the vast majority of that reserve must be used towards operating costs over the next financial year.
Majority owner Stan Kroenke has made it clear that Wenger will be granted full autonomy to use his budget how he pleases, with the club’s robust financial position likely to be further boosted next summer by around £25million from the completed property sales of the Queensland Road site and the 16 remaining Highbury Square apartments.
The key decision now facing Wenger, however, is to what extent he channels his available money into wages in an attempt to keep star players. Robin van Persie, Thomas Vermaelen and Theo Walcott will all be out of contract in 2013, meaning their contracts must be renewed this season to avoid a potential repeat of the situation that occurred with Samir Nasri last summer.
At £124.4million, Arsenal’s annual wage bill is already the fourth highest in the Premier League, but there is still pressure to divert further resources into significantly higher offers to star players.
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