Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes the club have shown that they can now compete financially with other big-spenders around Europe, after they splashed over £40million on Real Madrid star Mesut Ozil.
The Gunners went into deadline day without spending a penny, despite publically stating that the club have up to £70million to spend on new players this summer, however, that all changed late on Monday night.
Reports broke out that the two parties were in intial talks and later on in the evening, it was confirmed that Ozil had signed for Wenger’s side for a whopping £42.3million, smashing the club’s transfer record fee, which was only £15million.
The signing is not only a big deal on the pitch, it also shows intent off it and Wenger believes they have proven that they are in a position to spend.
“Honestly I think it was linked with the Bale transfer,” the manager said. “I don’t know exactly what happened inside the club in Madrid. Was it down to financial reasons? Was it down to the fact that when they bought Bale they had Isco and they had to let somebody go? I was surprised, yes.
“I fight for the teams to spend the money they had made and not the money they have artificially earned. Once they have made that money I am happy to spend it. As you know as well, what is very important for us is to find world-class players. There are not plenty around.
“We had to go through some years when I signed a long-term contract where we had some restricted financial potential. And the target was to stay in the Champions League in this period and we managed to do it. We are now in a strong position financially.”
Written by Alex Batt – @AlexBatt
