€492m increase in just three years - how Arsenal built the world's second most valuable squad

Things seem to be going incredibly well for Arsenal at the moment. Fresh off the back of an unexpected title challenge for last season’s Premier League and an impressive summer transfer window, Mikel Arteta’s team have looked even better this time around. After beating Manchester City in the Community Shield, the North London club have since gone on a five-game unbeaten run as well as return to Champions League football with a dominating 4-0 win over PSV.

Indeed, there’s little doubt that Arsenal have unquestionably improved leaps and bounds in recent seasons and now find themselves going toe-to-toe with some of the richest clubs in European football. And when we consider the fact that Arteta’s squad now boasts a combined market value of 1.09 billion - a figure second only to Man City - then there’s certainly plenty of evidence to suggest that this club knows what they’re doing on and off the pitch. So how did Arsenal manage to acquire the second most valuable squad in European football?

How Arsenal became the second most valuable squad in the world

There’s little doubt that Arsenal have improved dramatically in recent years and that’s most evident through the manner in which their squad market value has shot through the roof. For example, over the course of the past three years the North London club have seen their overall market value increase by 82% from €599m in September 2020 to where it now stands at €1.09b. That €492m increase is considerably higher than any other club in England, with Newcastle United coming in second with an increase of €369m, Aston Villa in third with an increase of €365m, with Nottingham Forest (€326.6m) and Brentford (€298m) in fourth and fifth place respectively.

This, undoubtedly, contrasts quite strongly with Arsenal’s typical top six contenders. For example, in that same period Liverpool have seen their squad value drop by €194m and Tottenham Hotspur have seen theirs drop by €32.3m. While Chelsea (+€45m), Man City (+€122m) and Manchester United (+€124m) have only seen modest gains. So what’s behind Arsenal’s remarkable leap up the table when it comes to the value of their players?

Biggest increases in market value at Arsenal

First and foremost, we must address the elephant in the room: Arsenal have spent a lot of money over the past three years. While the North London club may not have matched Chelsea (€1.44b) or Man City’s (€708m) splurge on transfer fees paid for new players, Arsenal’s bill of €680m over the past three and a bit seasons is the third highest in European football. And when we then consider the club’s net spend on transfer fees - which stands at €537m - it is third only behind Chelsea and Man Utd. However, while that may go some way to explaining Arsenal’s rise from mid-table fodder to title challengers, it isn’t the full story.

The other important factor worth considering here is also how well the squad have performed under Mikel Arteta and that much can be seen through the manner in which the market values of Arsenal’s key players have also steadily risen since the Spaniard took over as head coach in December 2019. When we consider the graphic above, which shows the top 10 improvements in Arsenal market values since Arteta arrived at the club there are undoubtedly some players like Ben White or Jurrien Timber who saw their values increase due to transfer fees and Declan Rice, who earned much of his increase at his previous club, but no less than seven of the top 10 have improved due to becoming better players under Arteta.

In fact, when we consider how much Arsenal’s stars have improved since they debuted for the club, we can see thanks to the table below that Arteta’s impressive performances as Arsenal manager have undoubtedly seen the squad as a whole improve in value to mirror what the club have been doing on the pitch. So while Arsenal have spent considerable amounts of money, the real reason behind their improved standing in English and European football is down to the manner in which their manager has improved the players that the club either bought or developed from a very young age.