Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis has admitted that the club cannot compete with their Premier League rivals with transfer fees, due to the fact that they can’t afford to make big mistakes.

Arsenal are in dire need of a central defender and a centre forward, and fans will surely kick up yet another fuss if both are not delivered this summer. An injury to Per Mertesacker has meant a central defender is vital, despite already signing Rob Holding from Bolton. A new striker has always been on the cards, and the Gunners have had a £29.3m offer for striker Alexander Lacazette rejected by Lyon this week.

The club have brought three new players this summer, of which midfielder Granit Xhaka is the stand-out signing. It’s a good start by Wenger, but 1 or 2 more in defence and attack will give Arsenal as much preparation as possible for the new season.

However, Gazidis has insisted that Arsenal will not splash the cash unnecessarily:

“We can’t afford to outgun competitors that have far more money. We have to be very careful, very selective,” he said.

“We would not be successful if we simply went out into the transfer market and tried to outgun our competitors.”

“We’re run in a self-sustaining way, and a way that we believe in, because we believe it gives us certainty for the future and enables us to plan our future with confidence.”

“That means we can’t afford to make huge mistakes in the transfer market. We can’t afford to outgun competitors that have far more money to splurge on transfer fees than we do. So we have to be very careful, very selective about how we do things.”

“We’re still active in the market, as are most other clubs, and if we find opportunities that our manager believes can improve our squad and add something to it, we’re certainly going to take those steps,” he said.

“But in terms of this week, I don’t think there will be any radical surprises.”

“This year we’re investing over £20m in developing our facilities – our training ground for young players and our academy and the main training ground.”

“Those are investments that are being made for the long-term future of the football club, for the next 10, 15, 20 years. And we’re making those decisions in exactly the same way, and Arsene Wenger is actively involved in them, even though he probably won’t see the fruits of all of those investments.”

What do you think? Should Arsenal spend big now, or continue to invest in the future?

[Quotes via Sky Sports]