Have Arsenal and Tottenham Spent Enough to Reach the Top?
This year was the most expensive transfer window on record with more than £1 billion spent in the Premier League.
A good portion of that money was spent by the big three clubs— Manchester City, Manchester United, and Chelsea—while Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur spent a small fraction of that. The giants of the Premier League are clearly going for broke at the chance of another title, but will anyone else be able to compete with them? After their strong seasons last year, many are questioning if Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal have done enough to compete with the larger clubs in the league.
In typical fashion, Arsenal didn’t make too many waves during the summer transfer window. Although the team finally spent money in the offseason, it may be too little too late for the Gunners. The team made more news for the players that have left than those they’ve purchased. Midfielder Mikel Arteta finally retired and the club also released Mathieu Flamini and Tomas Rosicky. To be fair, both Flaimini and Rosicky were on the wrong side of 30, but it still marks a big shift for players who had become familiar faces with the club for some time. Another big change to the Arsenal lineup is loaning midfielder Jack Wilshere out to AFC Bournemouth after Wilshere finally returned from injury at the end of last season.
The Gunners brought in Swiss midfielder Granit Xhaka from Borussia Monchengladbach to help fill the void in the midfield and the 23-year-old should mesh well with Mesut Ozil. The team also brought in another German player, centre back Shkodran Mustafi from Valencia. But compared to the stars being acquired across the rest of the league, these players seem like a drop in the bucket toward Arsenal’s title chances. The Gunners also brought in Lucas Perez from Deportivo La Coruna in the hopes of creating a successful strike partnership with Alexis Sanchez, but he’s more of a consolation prize after the club failed to attract either Gonzalo Higuain or Jamie Vardy.
Elsewhere, Tottenham Hotspur signed the French star of Newcastle United, Moussa Sissoko, for £30 million at the last minute in what turned out to be the most exciting story from transfer deadline day. Spurs managed to snag the player from right under Everton’s nose. Everton even went so far as to send a private jet to pick the player up and only learned he hadn’t signed when Cissoko didn’t show up. He was by far the biggest signing made by Tottenham this year and at £30 million, he cost nearly twice what it did to bring in Dutch striker Vincent Janssen, the team’s second largest signing. Otherwise, this is pretty much the same roster as last season and manager Mauricio Pochettino hopes it will be enough for another top-four finish.
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Both Arsenal and Tottenham had their best seasons in recent memory last year, finishing in second and third in the league, respectively. Apparently, both squads have subscribed to the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mode of thought, but with the amount of talent being acquired by their competitors, fielding last year’s model might not be enough to cut the mustard. As of this writing, Arsenal is ranked as a distant fourth to win the title at 12/1, compared to Chelsea’s third-best odds at 5/1. Tottenham has fared even worse and received the fifth-best chances, with 20/1 odds of winning the league.
Both teams are still among the best in the league. However, with the other big clubs breaking the banks for some of the world’s biggest stars, this is a place where you have to put your money with your mouth is. If Arsenal and Tottenham think they can continue to go toe to toe with the big boys without having to spend like them, they might be in store for a rude awakening later this year.
