Arsenal's financial results for the 2022/23 financial year have confirmed they have an edge on many of their top Premier League rivals. This is when it comes to their wage bill.
The Gunners' total salaries stand at £234.7million, which is well below many of the other traditional big six. Manchester City's is nearly double at £422.9million, while Manchester United spend nearly £100million more (£331.4million).
The disparity is not likely to stay this way for long though. When next year's financial results come around you can expect the wage bill to be significantly higher. This is because the club have tied down the nucleus of Mikel Arteta's squad to new contracts in the past year or so.
Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka, Reiss Nelson and Aaron Ramsdale have all received significant hikes in their pay packets as a reward for their performances on the pitch. Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu are among those expected to follow soon.
To add to that the club have also invested heavily in new players. Admittedly these will be amortised over the length of the contract on the accounts, but wages for Kai Havertz and Declan Rice are thought be in and around the £200,000 per week mark.
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This combined with the fact that Arsenal made a £52million loss for the 2022/23 financial year could be legitimate cause for concern on paper. Premier League teams have watched closely as Everton have been docked points for breaches of profit of sustainability regulations and are viewing it as a cautionary tale.
The Gunners however, have seen their revenues rise significantly.
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