Arsenal Chief Executive Ivan Gazidis has said that the club is still looking to add players to the squad and manager Arsene Wenger has ‘substantial’ funds at his disposal.
Arsenal fans have endured another frustrating summer with constant rumours surrounding the future’s of Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas, combined with the perceived lack of spending with only Gervinho and Carl Jenkinson added so far this summer.
But Gazidis says the club are working hard in the background to find the right players and Arsenal have the resources to add ‘world class’ players if needed:
“We will be active in this window,” Gazidis said. “We haven’t finished our business at all. We’re just not conducting it publicly. We’re working hard privately. We understand where the weaknesses have been.
“Financially, we’re in a strong position. We have resources to spend. We’re certainly not sitting there saying ‘Let’s hold back on our resources for some reason.’ Why would we? The resources are there.
“They’re not there to compete with the Manchester Citys of this world and, frankly, if they were, Manchester City would just increase their bids again. You’re just never going to be able to compete with limitless amounts of money but we’ve got a substantial amount of money that we can invest.”
“If we found an established, world-class player and we thought the economics made sense and he would add to what we could do on the pitch, then there’s no philosophical objection to that,” Gazidis said. “Arsène has no point of principle to show the world that he can build his own team of young players. That’s just not the way it is.
“Our fans have the right to be excited, to look forward to the season with anticipation and to expect to see top-class players and exciting things happening on the pitch. It’s our goal and target to deliver all of that.”
Gazidis went on to describe the work Arsene Wenger is doing as ‘fantastic’ and feels the fans need to remember the environment are working in, where big-spending clubs like Chelsea, Man Utd and Man City invest heavily compared to the Gunners:
“The reality is that most fans love this club and think what we’re trying to do is fantastic,” Gazidis said. “It’s easy to lose perspective on what Arsène is trying to do … which I think is an extraordinary vision … but if you look around, the fans we have around the world … that vision is very, very attractive and very, very powerful. We should be proud of that.
“People should want that in the game. It’s a fantastic thing for the game, I really believe that. It is one of the points of difference for Arsenal and something that drives admiration around the world.
“Listen, we have to deal with some realities in the game. Domestically, the league has been dominated by Chelsea and Manchester United in recent years. They’ve been the biggest spenders and, although they’ve done a fantastic job, it’s probably not a coincidence and now you see Manchester City and what they are spending and they are going to be in that bracket as well.
“We have to challenge for trophies in that environment and we will. But we’ve got to do things differently because we don’t have those kind of resources. Our approach is partly driven by vision; it’s partly driven by necessary strategy.”
