The issue was discussed on last night’s Off The Ball.
Both Arsenal and Manchester United would be able to afford the signing of Lionel Messi from Barcelona, according to football finance specialist Dr Tom Markham.
Markham, speaking to Off The Ball on Newstalk, says that a couple of clubs could afford to bring the 27-year-old in for around €300m, although the fee would need to be broken up over a number of years.
“That’s about 14 per cent of Bayern Munich’s turnover and it’s pretty much a similar figure for Man United. Their turnover for (2013) was in and around €430M,” he said, with United spending €92M on interest alone.
“Transfers are usually broken up over the life of a contract so Messi on a five-year deal – if you divide that €300M over five years – that’s €60M a year and the €92M that we talked about, it would cover his transfer fee and wages.”
Markham said that Arsenal could afford Messi, who has reportedly grown unsettled under Luis Enrique at Barcelona, “just about given (the Gunners’) revenue and the upside of things like commercial revenue and shirt sales etc, Arsenal would just about be able to cover that.
“Chelsea would be in a similar bracket. They’ve played the FFP model very, very cleverly since it started.”
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