Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger will be given £15m to spend on strengthening his squad in the summer.
Despite Arsenal’s commitment to a new £400m Ashburton Grove stadium, the the club aim to give Wenger the funds to compete withe likes of big-spending duo Manchester United and Chelsea.
“We won’t be able to go for a player who will cost mega-bucks, a £20m or £30m player,” chairman Peter Hill-Wood said Tuesday.
“But there will be enough there for Arsene if he wants to add to his squad. If, for instance, he wants another striker, then the money will be there as long as it isn’t too high.”
The first player expected to join is Feyenoord’s Robin van Persie with a £3m moveto Huighbury expected to be completed later this week.
Wenger spent money on five new players for the current campaign – Jens Lehmann from Borussia Dortmund for £1m, Cesc Fabregas from Barcelona for £500,000, Philippe Senderos for £500,000 from Servette , Gael Clichy for £250,000 from Cannes and a down payment of £6m on Jose Reyes from Sevilla.
Meanwhile, vice-chairman David Dein admitted that Arsenal faced a constant battle to protect the club’s principal assets from the clutches of rival clubs.
“It hasn’t been easy to fight off suitors who are after Arsene, Patrick and Thierry,’ admitted Dein.
‘We have had robust offers for all three of them in the last two seasons but we will not let them go,” Dein told the Lonmdon Evening Standard.
