Official Gooners Thread - A New Hope

[Tony Baloney]

Podolski?

[gerry]

looks like a done deal for £11 million


PODOLSKI AT A GLANCE

    Born: Gliwice, Poland, 1985
    1997: Family move to Germany
    1995: Joins Cologne, first-team debut in 2003
    2006: Joins Bayern Munich after scoring 51 goals in 84 games for Cologne
    2009: Rejoins Cologne after scoring 26 goals in 106 games for Bayern
    2010-12: Has scored 14 and 16 goals in last two seasons
    Germany: 91 caps, 43 goals

[Dinny Breen]

Sounds like good business, always liked the look of him with Germany. A 27 year old Germany International with 91 caps, how much would he cost if he was English? 11m looks like good business. Is Germany the new France for Arsenal...

[brokencrossbar1]

Has always done well for Germany but never really lit the club scene up.  Could be very good, could be very average.

[Dinny Breen]

Has always done well for Germany but never really lit the club scene up.  Could be very good, could be very average.

He was good before he joined Munich, probably too big a move for a 21 year old, he might not be an Andy Carroll but at 11m definitely worth a punt...

[brokencrossbar1]

Has always done well for Germany but never really lit the club scene up.  Could be very good, could be very average.

He was good before he joined Munich, probably too big a move for a 21 year old, he might not be an Andy Carroll but at 11m definitely worth a punt...

At £11m worth a pot alright, as I said he could be very good and with no big fee round his neck there is less pressure(unless RVP heads in the summer then all the pressure will be on him )

[Capt Pat]

So Arsenal are obviously going to sell Van Persie and pocket the spare change. Am I right ire am I right?

[Main Street]

I think Koln and Podolski have done a good bit of business here. Koln selling on a player who has a year left on his contract for £1m more than they payed and Podolski securing a contract with a 100% pay hike (some £6m p/a), as well as escaping from a club languishing way down the Bundesliga.

Wenger is one generous benefactor and a great man to do business with.

[ONeill]

Let's hope he experiences a more productive couple of years than Chamakh if he arrives.

If there was a firesale in the summer, what price would you put on:

Bendtner
Chamakh
Djourou
Squillachi
Arshavin
Vela
Denilson
Almunia


?

[Carntogher]

You would save at least 450k a week in wages for a start.  Enough to pay the wages of three RVP's!

[Main Street]

If Podolski is on £115k p/w, then what price Van Persie?
But I suppose VP's tolerance of such a parity in wages with Podolski would depend on what he could get elsewhere, except Man City of course 

I thought Wenger would have taken on board  some financial constraints but it appears he is raising the bar higher and higher.

[From the Bunker]

I would fear for a player who was let go by Bayern Munich, True he has done it on the international stage, but there are alot of players who do that and are muck when it comes to the bread and butter club scene. Arsenal should know, they have had a few of them over the last couple of seasons.

[ONeill]

Chamakh was claimed on a free and has a great rep in France so he could still get around £6m for him. Bendtner the same for an English club. I can't see much dough being made out of the rest unless the Brazilians are loving Denilson. Also, hopefully Arshavin lights up the Russian league.

Arsenal are still in a precarious place concerning finances simply because in the past there was always the potential resale value of good players and the CL money. Now, the stars are few and far between. Also, many don't understand profit when it comes to football and take it at face value. It's a case of assets and amortisation. If Arsenal bought a player for 4m over 4 years, the accountants see it as 4x1m. So if Arsenal resold him in year two for 5m, the accounts will show a 2m profit (they reckon he's worth 4m in year 1, 3m in year 2, 2m in year 3, etc). The profit figures are distorted. Arsenal showed a '63m' profit last year even though 50m was spent on transfers. Wages are also included in this profit. The wages they didn't have to pay for the remainder of their contract is also included in the profit tally. Shady figures.

[Main Street]

The last finance year ended in May 2011, many things happened after that time.

May 2011 - 2012 will still show a profit. Arsenal are in quite a good position to exploit the finance regulations and get a jump start on some of their rivals who have been purchasing players with no such club related income
But a lot has been staked on Podolski.

[ONeill]

But a lot has been staked on Podolski.

That's why I think there'll be a bit of a clear-out (instead of loans) this Summer.

In terms of future income there is still money owed for Cesc. These were the figures:

Initial Fee: £25.3m
The transfer fee was split up over two payments. Arsenal received £12.65m in August 2011, and the other £12.65m a month later, in September 2011.

Instalments: £4.3m
£860k every year, spread over five years. This is taken from Fabregas' salary in a £16.8k/week "wage cut" from €80k/week to €60k/week. Barcelona can improve his contract at any time, so the "wage cut" is a goodwill smoke screen.

Performance: £4.3m
£1.72m for every La Liga title and £860k for a Champions League title during his first five years, capping out at £4.3m.

In total, the transfer was a guaranteed £29.6m over the next five years, possibly rising to about £34m in total.

It's reckoned that 90% of Arsenal's annual transfer kitty comes from CL money. Even if they do qualify again this year, Wenger can either get a couple of lesser lights (like Gervinho/Arteta) or splash out on one £20-30m which would blow the whole load when you include wages and all the other trappings around a big player like agent fees etc.

All the while the teams with trophies will pay big dollar for the best players and Arsenal will find themselves further from the top in England. It's frustrating that the Arsenal financial model doesn't allow for the best players to play Arsene's football but that's the price you pay for substandard shirt and kit deals.