Arsenal’s beloved ITK David Ornstein have provided the fans with a breakdown of their disorganized transfer window, in which the BBC journalist confirmed two current Arsenal first team stars asked to leave the Emirates.
Ornstein has a reputation with the Gunners fans that has seen him earn a rather colourful set of nicknames from Gooners across the world.
He shed some light on what is seen by many as a poor summer transfer window, despite the club confirming the record signing of France international Alexandre Lacazette and Bundesliga Team of the Season full-back Sead Kolašinac.
Quick attempt to answer some Qs on #AFC window. Likes of @SwissRamble @AST_arsenal far better & more forensic on finances + results/AGM soon pic.twitter.com/LSDoAfZ1kp
— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) September 4, 2017
Here, the BBC man points to the wages new boys Lacazette and Kolašinac are earning as part of the reason a third summer singing wasn’t made, with the north London outfit needing to comply with the Premier League’s salary control regulations.
It was revealed that Héctor Bellerín and Shkodran Mustafi asked to face the exit door at the club this summer, with Mustafi almost agreeing to a deal with Inter Milan late in the transfer window.
Ornstein also mentioned out that although it may appear Arsenal Wenger’s side made a net profit during the transfer window, a large potion of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s £35m transfer could be owed to his former side Southampton as part of a sell-on agreement.
It was revealed late in the transfer window that the Gunners had no more money to make any major signings, however, it appears they are sitting on roughly £30m before the transfer window shut.
With £60m appearing to be on its way through the sale of Alexis Sánchez to Manchester City, Arsenal saw a £92m offer accepted by Monaco for Thomas Lemar although they were unable to convince the player of a late summer switch.
Ornstein ended by discussing the ambitions of controversial owner Stan Kroenke. Despite being “hungrier than ever to win trophies”, Kroenke will not invest his own money into the club, instead relying on Arsenal’s self-sustaining business model to help them claim domestic glory moving forward.