Football

Money wasn't there last season, this "pre-season" has been the first we've had significant funds to spend. And we've lost a few million per year in ages in terms of squillaci, denilson, arshavin et al.

It's a shame to me that VP couldn't hold on for another 12 months but that's what you get for being financially prudent.

The new sponsorship deal with Emirates etc was signed three months after RvP left. Arsenal must have knew how much these new deals would be worth and must have been in negotiations at this point, so could have easily leveraged new signings against this. More like a lack of foresight rather than prudence, but in fairness I can't recall any players of Ozil's quality (apart from RvP) being available last summer.