Arsenal’s on-field failures are hurting the Gunners’ bank balance

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Arsenal technical director Edu was presenting to the club’s owners this week. He laid out plans to reorganise the club’s worldwide scouting and recruitment operation and compete for the best young talents, as Arsene Wenger and his chief scout Steve Rowley did, in what now seems a different universe.

The problem is money. When former chief executive Ivan Gazidis spoke in 2013 of Arsenal becoming a spending power like Bayern Munich, the club were in the midst of a 19-season run in the Champions League.

But as the directors congratulated themselves on what a good job they were doing, Arsenal subsided into the second tier of clubs. They’re now blowing a small fortune just to stay there.

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Arsenal chief Edu has bold plans to make the club a scouting giant, but money is a problem

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In 2013, the Gunners were plotting to become a spending powerhouse like Bayern Munich

Arsenal’s financial results, published last week, revealed the eye-watering detail. After 16 straight profitable years, during which they enjoyed a £393million surplus, they have reported two successive years of losses, in which a cumulative £86m drained away.

As financial analyst Swiss Ramble’s examination of the figures showed, Arsenal now trail other members of the Big Six — most symbolically Tottenham, who they meet on Sunday.

The £17m TV money earned after their last-32 Europa League knockout compared with £69m for Spurs, who sit two places above them in the latest Deloitte Money League having driven £51m more in revenue.

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However, Arsenal’s slide down the Premier League table has dashed those old ambitions

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Their on-field woes are hurting the bank balance, with lack of Champions League a heavy blow

Arsenal are now outside the top 10 in that league. In 2013 they were sixth, ahead of Manchester City, Liverpool and 13th-placed Spurs. Arsenal are now the second-best north London team for matchday revenue — a financial realm where once Spurs could not remotely compete. Income is £79m, while Spurs’ new stadium has lifted them to £95m, the Swiss Ramble study shows. Arsenal are eclipsed in all areas: sponsorship, hospitality, merchandise.

The Premier League’s 10th-placed club have been fumbling around in the dark for three years, desperately trying to map a route ahead, just like Manchester United after Sir Alex Ferguson left.

Hence the revolving door of new executives in that time.

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Former chief executive Ivan Gazidis has moved onto AC Milan

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Sven Mislintat did not last long as head of recruitment

One by one, they have left, for reasons never spelt out. Gazidis, head of recruitment Sven Mislintat, then Darren Burgess, who had been appointed to great fanfare to work as the club’s performance director.

Gallery: Premier League cast-offs who went on to win the Champions League elsewhere (FourFourTwo)

Manager Unai Emery’s sacking cost Arsenal £10m. Raul Sanllehi, the head of football, and contract negotiator Huss Fahmy have followed him out the door.

Wages soar when panic sets in and here is one field where Arsenal outdo Spurs, with an average £104,000-a-week offering compared with Tottenham’s £84,249. 

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Edu is hoping that contacts in South America can help land the region’s stars of the future

Profit of £40m from player sales has helped Arsenal. So has cancelling the contracts of Mesut Ozil, Shkodran Mustafi and Sokratis Papastathopoulos. A further £16.5m on this season’s wage bill has been staunched by loaning out Sead Kolasinac, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Joe Willock. 

But the Swiss Ramble comparative study shows Arsenal are still running the third-highest losses in the Premier League, surpassed only by…