Arsenal dealt major £373m setback as unsustainable transfer project exposed amid FFP fears

Arsenal recorded the third-greatest negative transfer balance for non-academy players signed and sold in the last nine years. That's according to the CIES Football Observatory, which has recently revealed the 50 most unprofitable clubs in the world between 2014 and 2023.

The report states that Barcelona were the most futile club, recording losses of €631 million (£540m) after the Spanish giants took major hits on the departures of Coutinho, Ousmane Dembele and Antoine Griezmann, among others too. While they managed to rake in €613m on player sales, the club forked out an eye-watering €1.244billion (£1.065bn) on arrivals.

The CIES Football Observatory recorded Chelsea as the second most unprofitable club for the signing and sale of non-academy players between 2014 and 2023, tallying a €483m (£413m) loss. The west Londoners spent €1.213bn on bringing new faces to Stamford Bridge while recuperating €730m (£624m).

Then, in third, was Arsenal, who were closely followed by Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United. While the Gunners only spent €584m (£500m) on new players – which is considerably less than their peers – they only managed to rake in €148m (£127m).

Fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth consisted of three more Premier League clubs and two Serie A sides; AC Milan, Aston Villa, Everton, Liverpool and Juventus, respectively. The CIES Football Observatory report surfaced shortly after Aleksander Ceferin stood by his colleagues' decision to dump Manchester City out of the Champions League after breaching Financial Fair Play rules.

In 2018, Pep Guardiola's side were issued a two-year ban after they were found guilty of breaking FFP regulations. City appealed the decision, taking it to the Court of Arbitration for