Arsenal will have a transfer budget of just £40million this summer if they fail to qualify for the Champions League, according to reports.
The Gunners have already missed out on a place in Europe’s premier competition through the Premier League, with a late-season collapse seeing them finish behind Chelsea and Tottenham in fifth.
However, they do have one more chance of qualifying for next season’s tournament, but Arsenal have to beat Chelsea in the Europa League final later this month to claim a place in the European Cup.
If the north Londoners do qualify for the Champions League it promises to be an exciting summer at the Emirates, but another season of Europa League football will temper expectations.
And it won’t just be expectations that are reduced – it will be Arsenal’s transfer budget as well.
According to BBC Sport, Arsenal will have a lowly £40million summer transfer budget if they are playing in the Europa League next season, whereas it will be ‘significantly’ higher should they qualify for the Champions League.
This budget can, of course, increase through player sales, though it is almost impossible to sign an above-average player for under £50million – let alone any individual considered among the elite.
Arsenal are already losing Petr Cech, Danny Welbeck, and Aaron Ramsey at the end of the season as their contracts expire, with the latter agreeing on a lucrative deal with Juventus.
There have also been reports claiming Mesut Ozil, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, and Shkodran Mustafi will be sold this summer, with Unai Emery hoping to bring in five new players as part of a major rebuild of the Gunners’ first-team squad.