As we're unlikely to see terraces again at football, this is the virtual equivalent where you can chat to your hearts content about all football matters and, obviously, Arsenal in particular. This forum encourages all Gooners to visit and contribute so please keep it respectful, clean and topical.
Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis accepts it will be a "big summer" for the club in the transfer market.
Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis accepts it will be a "big summer" for the club in the transfer market and re-iterated significant funds were available should manager Arsene Wenger wish to spend them.
The Gunners are determined to improve the strength of the squad ahead of next season to mount a long-overdue sustained assault for a Barclays Premier League title.
"It is a big summer. We have been working very, very hard to gain the kind of financial capability we need as a football club to be at the very top end of the game," he said during a question and answer session with Arsenal supporters at the Emirates Stadium.
Last week Gazidis maintained improved commercial deals would see an "escalation in our financial firepower", with an additional £70million understood to have been set aside should Wenger wish to land a marquee signing. Arsenal have been linked with both England forward Wayne Rooney and Real Madrid frontman Gonzalo Higuain.
"The ambition that (majority shareholder) Stan Kroenke, Arsene Wenger, the players, our staff and I know all of the fans have is to be competing to win the Premier League and Champions League. If we are at that level, the trophies will come," he added.
"Those long term commercial deals have come up for renewal. You know about the Emirates (stadium and sponsorship) deal, I can't talk about the (new) kit deal yet, but we're confident of a good result there too.
"It is all about giving us the capability to go to the manager and to say 'here is the money for you to compete'. That is why we are in this stadium and that is what we want to do."
Wenger, 63, is heading towards the final season of his current contract and has been linked with taking charge at big-spending Ligue 1 side Paris St Germain, although Gazidis remains hopeful an extension can be reached with the French coach who helped guide Arsenal back into a top-four finish in the Premier League and with it another shot at the Champions League.
Gazidis added: "It is no secret that we think he (Wenger) has done a fantastic job and we think we can give him the tools he needs.
"When we are thinking about trusting someone with the type of money we will have, we can think of nobody better than Arsene. He is not scared to spend money, but he has to believe he is getting a top-class player."
Well, the same line will no doubt be trotted out by IG and co in the coming months anyway. It's probably a copy & paste job from the Arsenal PR department...
I genuinely thought it was new one of Gazidis' bullshit speeches, until I saw the article said Wenger still has another year left.
I'm not going to be in the slightest bit surprised if this speech is edited slightly for this year .
This thread should be buried (along with our title dreams) and we should instead dig out our transfer war chest that must have accumulated at least half a billion by now
People still buy into this shit?
Move along, nothing to see here...
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