There is a key reason why Arsenal’s opening asking price for Gabriel Jesus is £20m. It is because we are willing to let him go for as low as £9m

Signing in 2022 for £45m, Arsenal have £9m of the initial fee yet to hit the accounts. That is the rock bottom the club would take for the Brazilian. Anything under would see the fee show as a loss on the accounts. Breaking even on the book value will be key for the club.

That £9m a year in amortised transfer fee is the equivalent of a new £45m signing, spread across a further 5-years. Put simply, we could sell Jesus for £9m, sign someone for £45m, and our amortised fee expenditure would remain neutral. Zero change.

More important than the transfer fee for Arsenal is the wages – Jesus is reportedly on a huge £265k a week, totalling £13.78m a year. That would save Arsenal £22.78m a year, once combined with the amortisation saving.

Put simply, Arsenal could commit to spending £114m over the next 5 years, and for 2026/27 our outgoing would remain the same. As long as Jesus left for £9m and Arsenal did not contribute to any future wages.

Rolling back to the £20m, Napoli would normally be happy to pay that for a player of Jesus’ talent. But they wouldn’t be happy to pay his huge salary. Not even for a year.

If Napoli sign Jesus for £9m, they could basically pay him a £10m “bonus” for signing, which would more than cover the difference between what Jesus was expected to earn at Arsenal over the next 12-months and the likely lower salary Napoli would pay.

It is a deal that then suits all teams.

Napoli sign a top player without breaking their wage structure, Jesus does no take a financial hit and gets a new 4 or 5 year deal with Napoli, and Arsenal free up the equivalent of £114m to be spent on someone new.

That £114m could see Arsenal sign someone worth £70m a year on £160k a week. Or for £50m on £240k a week. Other combinations are available.

So whilst Arsenal fans might be disappointed if we “only” get £9m for Gabriel Jesus, there is a bigger financial upside that the club will be acutely aware of.

Just like when buying a player, the transfer fee is jut part of the clubs total costs, when selling a player the sale fee is also just part of the picture. That £266k a week wages saving is huge.

Now how Arsenal spend the money would be a different story….

Keenos