@MrIzzymann@EduardoHagn@gunnerblog Arsenal bought Leandro Trossard from Brighton in January 2023 for an initial £20 million, with add-ons taking the headline figure to £27 million. He signed a four and a half year deal running to the summer of 2027.
@MrIzzymann@EduardoHagn@gunnerblog £11 and £12 million on a player entering the final year of his deal.
That is actually quite smart business. A 32 year old with one year left on his contract and a player who, whatever his contributions, was never going to be a first team starter.
@MrIzzymann@EduardoHagn@gunnerblog The remaining book value sitting on Arsenal's balance sheet is somewhere around £4.4 to £6 million depending on which fee figure you use. So when Besiktas pay £17 million for a player whose book value is roughly £5 million, Arsenal are booking a profit of somewhere between
@MrIzzymann@EduardoHagn@gunnerblog a process called amortization. I have written about this before. Arsenal paid £20 million guaranteed and spread that over 4.5 years. By July 2026, approximately 3.5 years have elapsed, meaning roughly 78% of that cost has already been written off the books.
@MrIzzymann@EduardoHagn@gunnerblog because the number looks underwhelming until you understand how football accounting works.
When a club signs a player, the transfer fee is not recorded as an immediate expense. It is spread evenly across the length of the contract,
@MrIzzymann@EduardoHagn@gunnerblog Three and a half years later, Besiktas have agreed €20 million, roughly £17 million, to take him off Arsenal's hands with one year left on that contract.
Let's talk about what this actually means for lay men and for a club financially,