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Official £200m announcement imminent after Arsenal chiefs provide one big clue in Man City demolition

Adam Williams

Mon 3 February 2025 19:00, UK

Last night’s grudge match against Man City was charged with emotion and testosterone – Arsenal’s finances were the last thing on anyone’s mind.

In the fire and fury, you probably therefore missed the latest sign of the Gunners’ resurgence in the balance sheets in recent years as well as on the pitch under Mikel Arteta.

Arsenal may just fall short in the Premier League title race again in 2024-25, although the 5-1 demolition of City shows ဣthey will be there to capitalise❀ if Arne Slot’s Liverpool capitulate.

Owner Stan Kroenke has put his hand in his pocket to fund the spending needed that get the North Londoners back in contention for titles and, significantly, luc𒆙rative Champions League 𝄹football.

The Missouri-born billionaire, ꦗ77, has underwritten financial losses of £311m since Arsenal last posted a profit in 2017-18.

However, that record looks set to change when Arsenal release their accounts for 2023-24 in the 🌠next few weeks, which will account for their first season back in Europe’s most elite competition for seven seasons.

But that change of fortunes – which is detailed in the 2025 Deloitte Football Money League – is not attributable only to Champions League participation.

Matchday and commercial income have ri❀sen sharply too. That is just as well as, relative to their peer group and desirable geography, they have underperformed across both metrics in recent years.

Given that Kroenke Sports & Entertainment (KSE) want the club to be self-financing in the long term, that has a material impact on✃ the mo🐈ney available to Arteta and interim sporting director Jason Ayto.

Contrary to what appears to have been briefed to the press, Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) are a non-issue for Arsenal.

However, access to funds is a separate matter, with the recruitment and retention budgetಌ at the whims of the business performance of the club or KSE’s altruܫism.

That is partly why – at the time of writing – Arsenal are yet to sign the superstar striker that their fans are ♔crying out for despite overtures to Aston 𒁏Villa’s Ollie Watkins.

But if they can 𒅌sustain their presence at the top of the Premier League and the d✃eeper stages of the Champions League, there will be greater resources available in future Januarys.

Commercial income will be central to that toꦫo – and there has been another positive update in that department too.

• READ MORE: Arsenal trump Real Madrid as Mikel Arteဣta and Stan Kroenke at odds over £75m issue

Arsenal have struck yet-to-be-announced sponsorship deal

Arsenal’s three biggest partnerships by far are their kit, front-of-shirt and sleeve sponsorship deals with Adidas, Emirates🃏 and Visit Rwanda respectively.

Various studies have outlined that, until recently, Arsenal have in fact becomeಌ too reliant on those three categori🐟es and need to diversify their commercial portfolio.

They have had some success here, with a £10m-♚a-year training ground naming rights deal with Sobha Realty the pick of the bunch.

But smaller sponsorship categories can be extremely lucrative in the aggregate too, as Arsenal’s Nort🧜h London rivals Spurs have proven in recent years, deepening their portfolio and reaching £220m in annual commercial income.

T🌊he data show that Arsenal, by contrast, generated less commercial income than any of the ♔so-called Big Six in the last published the financial year.

But they are making efforts to correct this disparity and, as relayed by football finance journalist Łukas♊z Bączek on X, have now struck a new deal wit💎h L’Oréal Paris Elvive.

L’Oréal Paris will become Arse༺nal’s ‘official men’s hair care partner’ in a deal that debuted on signage in Arsenal’s win over City on Sun🔥day.

• READ MORE: Stan Kroenke’s Arsenal en🧸forcer wants Man City owner Sheikh Mansour kicked out over £318m issue

Arsenal to smash £200m barrier as Stan Kroenke’s commercial masterplan evolves

Early in January, KSE revealed that they were launching a cen𝐆tralised sponsorship unit for their various sports franchises.

This strategy could see Arsenal share ꧒com๊mercial deals with the likes of the Denver Nuggets and LA Rams.

What’s more, the Deloitte Football 🥂Money League appears to suggest that, when Arsenal come to release their 2023-🍸24 accounts, they will break the £200m barrier for commercia income for the first time.

For 2024-25, they wilಞl likely go well beyond that figure, potentially to closer to the £250m mark, although they will likely fall just short.

Given that the Gunners are exploring expanding the Emirates and generally maturing their commercial strategy, the graph will likely trend up🐬 and to the right for some time yet.