Dick Law Says Arsenal Missed out on Eden Hazard, Thibaut Courtois

Former Arsenal transfer chief Dick Law has revealed that Eden Hazard and Thibaut Courtois are among the targets they missed out on after they moved into the Emirates Stadium from Highbury in 2006.

Per Goal's Charles Watts, Law said that while the club had "financial muscle," they were hampered by the cost of the new stadium and could ill afford for any expensive signings not to work out:

"Did we miss out on talents? Certainly. I remember sitting in meetings with [chief scout Steve Rowley, CEO Ivan Gazidis and manager Arsene Wenger] and gnashing our teeth over Thibaut Courtois. We knew he was good.

"Eden Hazard as well; we wanted to do that deal. But there was a sense of responsibility and running the club prudently, all the time knowing that every £1 we spent we had to act as if it was our money. It was very, very difficult."

The Gunners had to be particularly frugal between 2006 and 2013 as a result of their repayments relating to the stadium. At the time of their move, their closest rivals were Chelsea and Manchester United, who could afford to spend more freely, as Law added:

"Our closest competitor other than Chelsea was Manchester United, and they had enough free cash that they could afford to make mistakes.

"We always felt that we didn't have the option to make a mistake because a £10 million to £20 million mistake would be a serious one for the club.

"Where United would take risks on players, we just didn't have that luxury. We didn't think it was prudent to take those risks."

Courtois joined Chelsea in 2011—before immediately leaving to spend the next three seasons on loan with Atletico Madrid—while Hazard signed from Lille a year later.

Hazard left Chelsea for Real Madrid this summer, but during his seven seasons with the Blues he was perhaps the best player in the Premier League, as football journalist Tom Marshall-Bailey noted:

Squawka shared his numbers with Chelsea:

Such a player would have of course been an enormous asset to the club and perhaps allowed them to remain competitive in relation to the Premier League title, which they've not come close to winning since they last did so in 2004.

Arsenal's frugal period has had a costly long-term impact on their prospects, too.

Although things improved at the Emirates with the arrivals of Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez in 2013 and 2014, with the pair helping the team win three FA Cups in four seasons, they have been left playing catchup to their rivals after a decade of underinvestment and decline under Wenger on the pitch.

That has resulted in the team missing out on a top-four finish and UEFA Champions League football for the last three seasons. Hampered without that revenue, Arsenal remain unable to compete financially with their rivals.