Back in the day under legendary manager Arsène Wenger, Arsenal often carried the tag of a club who were never willing to splash the cash. The move from Highbury to the Emirates in 2006 put some serious shackles on the pursestrings, and meant the north London side were left with a restricted budget while many other teams around them were spending fortunes. In more recent season’s that’s changed. As the stadium debts been cleared, a new look Mikel Arteta team has been able to lay out some big transfer fees to bring in some top stars to try and take the Gunners back to the top.
There have been some high profile signings that haven’t quite worked out in modern times, with some other clubs profiting from Arsenal splashing out big money for their stars in recent years. But which clubs have the Gunners paid the most money to in transfer fees in the last 20 years since the 2004/05 season? Here at Transfermarkt, we have you covered. Two of their London rivals feature in the top five.
Coming in at first place is none other than Chelsea, who have made €173.7m from selling as many as nine players to Arsenal on permanent deals in the last 20 years, including this summer’s €56m deal for winger Noni Madueke and Arsenal’s €5m signing of keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga In second place are French outfit Lille, whom Arsenal have paid as much as €118m in transfer fees to in the last 20 seasons. That is the accumulated fee of just three separate deals – Whilst the €26m deal for centre-half Gabriel in 2020 can be seen as an unequivocal success, the same can’t be said for the €80m signing of Nicolas Pépé in 2017, nor the €12m deal for Gervinho in 2011.
In third place is fellow London side West Ham, who have made €116.6m all from just one deal. That deal being the club record signing of Declan Rice. They are followed in fourth by LaLiga side Real Sociedad, who have become a very popular shopping place for Arsenal midfielders, with the Gunners spending a combined €102m on Mikel Merino and Martín Zubimendi in the past 12 months. In fifth are Borussia Dortmund, who have sold three players to the Gunners in the last two decades for a combined fee of €90m. In sixth place come Manchester City with a total of €87.2m from selling two players – Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko in 2022.
Then it’s La Liga giants Real Madrid with a total of €84m from selling two players. In eighth are Brighton with €82.5m made from selling three players to Arsenal, including Ben White for €58m. Liga Portugal outfit Sporting now take ninth position, after selling prolific striker Viktor Gyökeres to the Gunners for €65.8m this summer. Completing the top 10 are Bologna, who have made €63.6m from sales to the north London club since 2004.
