ARSENAL ARE UNABLE to ‘outgun’ Europe’s elite teams in the transfer market, admits the club’s chief executive Ivan Gazidis.
The £30 million signing of Granit Xhaka remains their only marquee signing this summer, having failed in their £20m pursuit of Jamie Vardy who turned down a move to stay at Leicester City.
The Gunners, who have also had a €35m (£29.3m) offer for Alexandre Lacazette rejected by Lyon this week, have seen Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City strengthen their ranks considerably, and Gazidis claims his side have to be “very selective” with their choice of transfer targets.
“We would not be successful if we simply went out into the transfer market and tried to outgun our competitors,” Gazidis told the New York Times.
“We’re run in a self-sustaining way, and a way that we believe in, because we believe it gives us certainty for the future, and enables us to plan our future with confidence. That means we can’t afford to make huge mistakes in the transfer market.
“We can’t afford to outgun competitors that have far more money to splurge on transfer fees than we do. So we have to be very careful, very selective about how we do things.
“We’re still active in the market, as are most other clubs, and if we find opportunities that our manager believes can improve our squad and add something to it, we’re certainly going to take those steps.”
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