Arsenal are reportedly looking at ways to enlarge the Emirates Stadium to stay on par with their Premier League adversaries.
Manchester United recently showcased their dazzling blueprint for a £2bn super-stadium, poised to take over Old Trafford's historic site. The bold endeavor, which is expected to become the UK's largest stadium, has already secured consent as part of a significant refurbishment of the locality.
Close behind, Newcastle have unveiled their intentions to relocate from St James' Park to an impressive new 65,000-seat venue, as the club's Saudi benefactors press on with their drive to cement the Magpies amongst football's elite.
As Arsenal endeavour not to be eclipsed by their rivals, they are thoughtfully contemplating a suite of expansion possibilities for their current abode at the Emirates, suggest reports from Mail Online.
Discussions are still in nascent stages, with various avenues under consideration. Arsenal's top brass are deliberating on the financial implications and the timeline of any potential enlargement, while also weighing up the effects on the vicinity.
Approval from Islington Council would be crucial for any such proposal, and Transport for London would also wield considerable influence. Arsenal co-chair Josh Kroenke broached the topic of expansion last year, admitting: "The internal conversations are starting to occur about (the stadium). It is not an easy renovation, but we see the possibilities of what's there."
An architect has provided a glimpse into what Arsenal's planned stadium expansion could entail. Opening up to The i paper in December, Nick Tyrer remarked: "It's efficient, everything fits together like a nice puzzle."
He went on to explain the complexity of the project due to the precision of the current design: "It's impressive what they were able to do on that tight site, but the problem with a puzzle that fits nicely together is as soon as you want to make big changes to it, it's difficult."
Delving deeper into the structural challenges, Tyrer said: "One of the big challenges is there's an elegant roof that is supported in I think eight places. The whole roof sits on those eight points and if you want to do any kind of expansion you need to remove the structure that's blocking you, but the only way you can do that is taking the roof off and putting a new wider roof on."
He warned: "If it does involve removing and replacing that, say it's a new roof, you're building a new roof of an 80,000-capacity stadium. You're talking about the realm of a new project, a new stadium from that perspective."
Shifting their home grounds in 2006, Arsenal's transfer to the Emirates Stadium rang in at £390m, originally placing them second-largest in Premier League capacity, though they've since fallen to fifth position. .