Arsenal anounce healthy financial figures

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Gunners in the black as healthy financial figures boost Wenger's plan to splash the cash



By Sportsmail Reporter

Last updated at 1:08 PM on 27th February 2012

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Arsenal have cash reserves of £115million as Arsene Wenger pushes for a summer spending spree.

The Gunners posted their interim accounts for the six months up to the end of November.

The figures include £74.4m spent on signing new players and agreeing fresh contracts last summer.


Healthy: Arsene Wenger should have the backing of the club for transfers

Arsenal enjoyed an overall profit on player trading of £46.1m - from selling star trio Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri and Gael Clichy at the end of last season - having made a loss of £5.9m the previous year. Group profit before tax was £49.5m.
Non-executive chairman Peter Hill-Wood said: 'We are proud of Arsenal’s record and consistency over many seasons and have the foundations in place, at every level of the club, to ensure we remain a force in the seasons ahead.'

It is believed that Wenger has been told he can spend £55m in the summer as they bid to keep track with their Barclays Premier League rivals.
Chief executive Ivan Gazidis said: 'It's important to acknowledge that the most important thing for this football club, the most important thing for our fans, and the most important thing for the board and the people that work at the club is how we do on the pitch.






Departures: Samir Nasri (left) and Cesc Fabregas were the two big names to go


'We have a healthy cash balance of £115million for the half year. But it's important to understand that not all that money's available to invest in transfers.
'We have running costs of the club, player salaries and so on, so that amount goes down during the year. We also have to keep something in reserve in case things don't go our way.

'There is money available, we don't talk about an exact figure - and there's a very good reason why we don't put an exact figure on that - because it would impact on our negotiating position. We have to invest efficiently, we have to invest sensibly.
'We do spend all of the money we generate - we do invest it in the squad. That doesn't mean we get every decision right - we don't. But we do get the majority of them right and that's been one of the secrets of Arsenal's success over a long period of time.

Eyes on the future: Ivan Gazidis (left) with Wenger

'I'm convinced we have the funds to be able to compete at the top of the game. Football clubs are moving towards more sustainable models. UEFA is mandating that they do that and they're doing it any way. The results when some clubs live outside their means can be disastrous.'
Arsenal are on the brink of ending a seventh successive season without a trophy and are in danger of failing to qualify for next season's Champions League, a competition they have taken for granted for the last 15 years.
Gazidis said: 'We can't gear our entire financial model around that - that expectation - because that would place the club in jeopardy if we didn't qualify. So we've always got to keep something in reserve in case things don't go our way.'
Finishing outside the top four would make Arsenal a less attractive club to current and potential players.

Gazidis said: 'There are very few clubs in the world that you would go to ahead of Arsenal in terms of consistently being there. I don't see that adversely impacting on our ability to attract players or retain the top players that we have.'



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EXCLUSIVE: Cologne hitman Podolski on brink of Arsenal switch after agreeing terms



By John Edwards
Last updated at 12:19 AM on 29th February 2012

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Arsenal are closing in on the transfer of Germany striker Lukas Podolski, who has agreed terms to move to the Emirates.
Sportsmail revealed earlier this month that Arsenal were eager to rebuild, and bidding for Podolski and Germany midfielder and team-mate Mario Gotze is a good start.


In demand: Arsenal are closing on Podolski after the German agreed terms

While Borussia Dortmund are in no mood to let 19-year-old rising star Gotze leave, Cologne are resigned to losing Podolski and believe he is bound for the Emirates in the summer.

On the move: Podolski has agreed terms with Arsenal

It is understood the 26-year old is happy with the terms on offer at Arsenal and a deal can go through at the end of the season, provided a fee can be agreed.

Cologne are ready to dig their heels in and demand around £15million after being left unimpressed by Arsenal's valuation of £8m.

The Bundesliga side are bracing themselves for some hard bargaining with their north London counterparts but sense Podolski will be spearheading Arsenal's attack next season.

Some high-profile signings would help under-fire Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger stave off a growing rebellion among supporters and dispel any misgivings Van Persie may have about committing himself to the club beyond a contract that runs out at the end of next season.



Polish-born Podolski is in his second spell at Cologne, after a three-year stay at Bayern Munich, and has impressed on the international stage.
The Gunners are also plotting a move for Blackburn midfielder Steven Nzonzi.

The former France Under 21 midfielder has been a rare bright spot in a woeful season for Rovers.

Caught the eye: Arsenal are also interested in Blackburn midfielder Nzonzi


Nzonzi's displays for Steve Kean's struggling side have caught the eye of the Gunners' scouts.

Senior Arsenal scouts will now step up their plans to launch a summer move by having the 23-year-old watched on a regular basis between now and the end of the season.
Arsenal are also keeping close tabs on Nzonzi's team-mate Junior Hoilett, whose contract expires in the summer.


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[Dunny]

Lukas Podolski in the form of his life and ready to answer Arsenal's call back to the big time

Lukas Podolski left Bayern Munich for Cologne after failing to make a home at a top European club but Arsenal now look set to benefit from the German international's ambition to have another crack at the big time.

Come and get me: Arsenal and Lukas Podolski seem to be a perfect fit Photo: REUTERS








By Steve Wilson

3:32PM GMT 29 Feb 2012

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Lukas Podolski's career path, on the face of it, has followed a familiar curve to that of many top class players.

He broke in to the first team of his home town club as a teenager. Had an early, defining international tournament, when he tore up trees in Germany's thrill a minute 2006 World Cup on home soil. That earned him a big money move to the best team in the country. He could win trophies but not a place in the club's heart. Then returned to his first club where he was still adored but had only a relegation battle to occupy his time.

In most narratives that should be that, bar perhaps a move even further down the divisions before coaching badges or TV work, his 95 international caps a proud record to talk about on the after dinner circuit.

But Podolski is 26. And in the form of his life. And the return to struggling Cologne was not an admission of failure at Bayern Munich, but a decision of the heart, the rekindling of a romance that never died. It sounds implausible in the modern age, but nonetheless it is true.

Now, however, after fitting more in to a career merely at its midway point than most do in an entirety, it seems Podolski is ready for the second act. One that in all likelihood will be played out at the Emirates Stadium.

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The 2006 World Cup brought the then 19-year-old striker to an international audience, when the smiling assassin was named the outstanding young player of a tournament Germany graced with zeal and brio. His subsequent move to Bayern in a £10m deal did not work out as planned but neither was it the diaster it is painted in some quarters.
In competition for a starting place with Luca Toni and Miroslav Klose in a large squad, his game time was limited. He never felt at home and agitated for a return to Cologne to rekindle his love of the game rather than his form. That happened in 2009, with Cologne reportedly funding the £10m fee in part by asking fans to dip in to their pockets.
He was also seduced by assurances that a competitive team would be built around him and so in a difficult first season back the relegation scrap was tolerated, the promise of brighter days to come.
That promise has not been fulfilled and Cologne continue to struggle at the wrong end of the table despite possessing in Podolski one of the stand out talents in the division. Add in to the mix upheaval at boardroom level at the club, with Wolfgang Overath, a figure close to Podolski, recently stepping down as president.
Podolski has been in outstanding form this season in the Bundesliga, scoring 15 goals and providing four assists in 19 appearances. He is as comfortable playing as either an out-and-out striker, or on the left of the main forward as he did during the World Cup. A host of European clubs have been scouting him this season, with Lazio, where this German international team-mate Klose is the primary striker, and Arsenal the most serious.
Bild, the influential German newspaper, reported that a provisional agreement between Arsenal and the player had been reached, though nothing concrete is likely to have been arranged before Arsenal's participation in next year's Champions League is confirmed.
However, the word coming out of Germany is that Podolski is now at an age where he is prepared to test himself once again at a higher level. The sheepish, homesick boy who never felt comfortable at Bayern is now a man with the footballing world at his feet.
"He's matured enough to consider moving to a big club again," says German football writer Uli Hesse-Lichtenberger, author of Tor! The Story of German Football.
"And, I think, he has come to realise that it's very tiring to be a big fish in a small pond, where you're not only expected to carry the whole team on the pitch but where you're also the club's only voice and face, so to speak, which means the press is always on your back."
Podolski is both a symbol of and favourite son from Cologne and the fans would be unhappy to see him leave. But there is an air of inevitability about it happening.
His contract runs out in 2013 and so this summer is the last chance for the club, rumoured to have debts upwards of £30m to manage, have of cashing in on him. The timing of the deal is right for both club and player.
Arsenal, should they secure his services, will be signing a player well equipped for the rigours of the English game who could act as both foil for Robin van Persie and someone to lift the pressure off the Dutchman's shoulders. And convince those publicly doubting Arsène Wenger that the club is still capable of attracting players not just with youth on their side but also in the prime of their career.