Arsene Wenger Doesn't Splash the Cash: Here's Why

The end of the season is nigh, and there will be as many fans that might be disappointed as those that are impressed with the way its gone, but with another trophy-less season we are bound to get a few fans and some doom mongers coming out with predictable articles and slogans of "Arsene must go" or "Arsene must spend."

It is important we get out of this fantasy football mentality and take a good perspective at the real world as far as Arsenal is concerned to make an informed decision into whether or not it is a valid point to clamour for a summer of spending on big players.

Change of Strategy (2003 - 2007)

The arrival of the Frenchman in 1996 was a big surprise in England at the time, but it didn't take him long to show his worth. Trophy after trophy was won between 1998-2005. Arsenal have not won a trophy ever since then. Why might this be?

In 2001 the club put forward plans to build a new stadium. This of course requiring mammoth-sized funds, had an unavoidable effect on every variable expenditure of the club- not excluding the precious player transfer kitty.

This in turn resulted in Arsene employing a predominantly youth policy on signing players (whereas before he used a blend of both youth and experience). This was for two reasons: Youth players are usually cheaper to buy and cost less to pay (wages) and secondly, they will yield a profit in the event that Arsenal might have to lose them.

This trend will be seen to have started in the 2003-2004 season (two years prior to the Emirates move). This is a strategy which has helped Arsenal remain competitive on the field whilst in an extremely difficult financial period—which a lot of fans and pundits will not understand or appreciate till another top flight club attempts building a new ground.

The roughest part of this storm has been ridden out, with an aftermath revealing a more financially stable and self-sustaining club. But if so why is Arsene still not splashing the cash?

The Calm after the Storm (2008-Date)

A lot of people seem to forget or don't know that at Arsenal, the transfer budget includes players wages as well as the signing fee. As earlier mentioned, buying younger players means less wages. For every contract renewal the players wages has to be improved. As a result, the wage structure at Arsenal is consistent with the level of wages of these young players.

If a player of international renown, saaaayyy...David Villa is to come to Arsenal. Never mind the large signing on fee, his wages would be considerably different to the rest of the team.

Then Wenger would have the likes of Diaby, Nasri, and Song knocking at his door wondering why they have to earn significantly less than this lad who is doing just as much work as they are (in some cases they might even be doing more work as they are young and fit enough to make more games than he might).

This can be seen in practice as the only star of international repute (Andrei Arshavin) that Arsenal has signed in this period of reform has had to take a wage cut to come to the club. I have no doubt that the deal would not have happened if it were not for this condition and this is the reason why the deal dragged for a whole month.

Hence it is really difficult to get a player that is better than what we have without going outside of our financial ability because a player costs more than a transfer fee, he could potentially cost the wage structure.

The best he can do is to get people with a winning mentality, which is the biggest problem his current squad. Hence his recent attempts—Arshavin, Vermaelen, Sol Campbell, and unfortunately even Silvestre (who has been a disappointment in that department).

In the midst of all this, Arsene has managed to oversee the development of a globally respected team such that there is no doubt that they have earned their place amongst Europe's top elite. He has once again displayed the priceless ability to develop something out of nothing.

People could look at the last five years and see five trophy-less years, but if you look well enough you will see something really special happening in North London. The fragility of this teams future is only one or two wrong signings away. But then again, a couple of right signings is what stands between this team and a sustained dominance in England and indeed in Europe. 

The all-conquering Barcelona side that continues to leave the world in awe, and that some have dubbed the best footballing side the world has known; the majority of its players have been developed and have played together from the youth set-up for years on end. Before they won the Spanish league in 2006. Guess when the last trophy they had won was. Go ahead, take a guess!

It was 1999. Six years. 

So the next time you want to accuse Arsene Wenger for crimes against humanity, please think about the facts.