If Arsenal complete a deal to sign Piero Hincapie from Bayer Leverkusen, the Gunners’ summer spending could surpass the £300m mark.
Martin Zubimendi, Eberechi Eze and Viktor Gyokeres have all arrived at Arsenal for similar fees, and new sporting director Andrea Berta has helped deliver the ‘unprecedented summer’ of spending that was rumoured.
But amid such a big outlay on players and a relatively modest return in terms of those sold, some Arsenal fans might be left wondering how this is all being financed.
Although the Gunners are in the clear domestically, Arsenal are close to UEFA’s FFP limit right now.
And with the club already receiving big loans from Stan Kroenke, fans in N5 might be wondering if Arsenal’s owners have now injected more cash.
Stan Kroenke doesn’t want to increase his Arsenal loan to fund transfers
With that in mind, TBR Football finance expert Adam Williams has now assessed whether he thinks the Kroenkes are personally funding this summer’s big transfer spend.
And in order to answer the question at hand, Williams first looked at the money already owed to the Kroenkes.
Williams said: “Per the last set of accounts, loans from Stan Kroenke to the club stood at £324m. Those are very low-interest, though they do now carry a higher notional interest rate for PSR terms.
“That’s not really an issue for Arsenal, however, as the club has plenty of headroom as far as the Premier League’s spending rules are concerned.
Mikel Arteta looks on during an Arsenal training session
Photo by Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images
“But that’s £324m that Kroenke isn’t likely to get back until he eventually sells the club, so the mood music is that he doesn’t want to continue funding the club’s transfer business and its wage expenditure. Instead, that money needs to be sourced from the club’s own revenues.
“We know he hasn’t injected any more money into the club via equity because that would be detailed on Companies House.
“He could, in theory, have increased the loans to the club, but we won’t know about that for quite some time if so, because it would probably be detailed in their 2025-26 accounts, which won’t be released until 2027.”
READ MORE: Arsenal tipped to make £600m financial announcement as Piero Hincapie stretches Stan Kroenke’s budget
Arsenal don’t need outside money to finance one last deal for Piero Hincapie
As mentioned, Arsenal want to sign Hincapie as their eighth summer signing if all goes to plan.
In order to facilitate that move, Jakub Kiwior is expected to leave for FC Porto on an initial loan deal with an obligation to buy.
But in terms of the Kroenkes pumping more money into the club, Williams didn’t think that was necessarily the case as far as this summer was concerned.
He continued: “I don’t think that Arsenal necessarily need outside money to fund the transfer business they have done this summer.
Chart showing Arsenal's revenue over the years, broken down into commercial, matchday and media income
Arsenal revenue chart Credit: Adam Williams/TBR Football/GRV Media
“They certainly need to make sales in terms of good business practice and UEFA FFP, but they can still meet the upfront cash costs and the instalment schedule even without external financing and sales.
“They have a £100m overdraft, which they can use if cash flow is tight too. They will have the highest or second highest matchday income in the Premier League this season and the commercial side of the business is booming. With a good run in the Champions League, they can earn £100m-plus, just as they did last season all told.
“So I doubt that Kroenke has made any further substantial investment out of his own pocket as things stand.”