Arsenal have been put to shame by Liverpool in one area following a hectic summer transfer window for both clubs. They were among the Premier League’s biggest spenders, recruiting a host of new players ahead of their respective title challenges. Liverpool spent the most at a record-breaking £446.5million but Arsenal had the highest net spend at £257m.
As well as signing a large number of players, the two sides also waved goodbye to some familiar faces. Liverpool sold the likes of Darwin Nunez, Luis Diaz and Jarell Quansah after Trent Alexander-Arnold moved to Real Madrid. Arsenal, meanwhile, said farewell to 12 players who were either sold, loaned out or released at the end of their contracts.
Even though it was a productive window for the Gunners, they were put to shame by their Merseyside rivals in one particular area.
Arsenal only made a total of £8.9m through player sales despite letting go of many players. Nuno Tavares, Marquinhos and Albert Sambi Lokonga were the only permanent exits commanding transfer fees.
Liverpool received more money just by selling Alexander-Arnold, with Real Madrid paying around £10m to sign him before the Club World Cup.
In total, the Reds generated £189.8m through player sales, receiving huge fees for the likes of Nunez, Diaz and Quansah. The exits of Ben Gannon Doak, Caoimhin Kelleher, Tyler Morton and Nathaniel Phillips also helped to boost their transfer kitty.
Despite struggling to generate funds by selling players, Mikel Arteta believes he has the most complete squad in his time as Arsenal manager.
He recently said: “In terms of numbers and quality, yes for sure. We have a really good balance of players, the versatility, the understanding of roles of those players, the mixture between experience and youth, the ambition.
“I am very happy with what we have. We try to do everything in every department to have the best possible resources, with the best people and that’s what we try to do when it comes to the transfer market.
“When you shake the tree and bring in more players there are always things that can happen. The spirit of that is to be more competitive, to be better and learn from the past.
“With the squad we had last year we made life very, very difficult for ourselves because if you look at the size and depth of other squads and the resources they had, we wanted that at least and more.
“We wanted to be in a place where we feel very comfortable, the right level of competition in the team but as well the right characters in the right roles and how those roles are going to change. I think we are in a very good place.”
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