Mikel Arteta Talks Arsenal Transfer Plans Amid 'Enormous' Impact of No UCL

Mikel Arteta has discussed the impact the lack of UEFA Champions League football has had on Arsenal's finances ahead of the summer transfer window. 

Arteta's comments come after the Gunners announced a post-tax loss of £27.1 million for 2018-19, down from a profit of £56.5 million the year before.

The Spaniard said:

"The damage caused by the club not being in the Champions League for the third season is really big.

"Financially the impact is enormous because the structure of this club is built to be in the Champions League, and you can sustain that for one year or two, but then after you have to start making decisions.

"So we will have to make decisions one way or the other depending on the scenario we find ourselves in, whether we are in the Champions League, Europa League or nowhere near that.

"And we'll have a very clear plan of what we want to do and depending where we are we have to act like this."

The coach added that the club will have no "margin for error" with the decisions they'll need to make in the transfer market because of their precarious situation.

Arsenal chairman Sir Chips Keswick has also pointed to the lack of Champions League football as the biggest contributor to the Gunners' struggles, which could be set to worsen, per Football.London's James Benge:

The Gunners played Champions League football every season under Arsene Wenger from 1998-99 until his final campaign, the 2016-17 season.

Wenger guided them to fifth in the Premier League in his last season in charge, and they're yet to finish in the top four again.

Arsenal had the chance to secure Champions League qualification last season by winning the UEFA Europa League after they got to the final, but they lost to local rivals Chelsea 4-1.

The lack of Champions League revenue caused them to drop to 11th in Deloitte's 2020 Football Money League, having dropped from sixth place to ninth last year.

Football finance blog Swiss Ramble provided further insight into their struggles, as they've also seen a drop-off in income from player sales:

In 2018, the Gunners sold Lucas Perez to West Ham United for £4 million, two years after paying a reported £17.1 million for him. They also lost Jack Wilshere and Santi Cazorla for free.

Last summer, Aaron Ramsey and Danny Welbeck also departed the club on free transfers, although they did make more than £40 million from the combined exits of Alex Iwobi, Krystian Bielik, Laurent Koscielny and David Ospina.

The Gunners were knocked out of the UEFA Europa League by Olympiacos on Thursday, so there will be no repeat of last year's run to the final.

In the Premier League they're eight points off fourth-place Chelsea with a game in hand. Fifth might provide Champions League football this season following Manchester City's European ban, though. The Gunners are five points behind Manchester United in fifth, again with a game in hand.