Arsenal leapfrog Paris Saint-Germain in Deloitte Football Money League after earning £400m

Arsenal have leapfrogged Paris Saint-Germain into sixth place in Deloitte’s Football Money League after pushing their revenue beyond £400million for the first time.

The Gunners earned £419m during the 2016-17 season compared to the £417.8m that the Parisians took home over the same period.

Only the two Manchester clubs out-earned Arsenal among their Premier League peers, with Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich rounding out the top five.

Though Arsenal rank among Europe’s elite on the balance sheet they appear to be slipping away from their rivals in sporting terms, having missed out on Champions League qualification for the first time in Arsene Wenger’s reign last season and with star forward Alexis Sanchez set to leave for Manchester United.

Meanwhile Arsenal spent less than any of their fellow top 10 clubs in the accountancy firm’s rankings, with net income in the summer transfer window at £23m and Alexandre Lacazette the only player purchased for a significant fee.

A dramatic revenue increase of 20 per cent at the Emirates Stadium is almost entirely down to the Premier League’s most recent broadcast deals, worth £8.3billion over three seasons starting with 2016-17.

Wenger’s side received £140m from the Premier League last season, £40m more than the year before, and also grew commercial revenue by 10 per cent. But they are unlikely to see the dramatic spikes in commercial earnings that Chelsea and Tottenham will enjoy in next year’s money league, as they remain tied to their Puma kit deal and Emirates Airlines shirt and stadium sponsorship.

Arsenal signed a £30m-a-year deal with Puma in 2014 which at the time was the biggest in football history, with their deal with Fly Emirates worth a similar amount.

Those earnings have since been eclipsed by the likes of Manchester United, whose 2014 agreement was worth £75m per annum, and Chelsea’s £60m-a-year agreement with Nike (which is not included in this year’s Money League rankings).

Similarly United earn £47m from their deal with Chevrolet, Chelsea £40m from Yokohama Tyres and Tottenham £35m from Chinese insurance giants AIA.

Arsenal will face a battle to remain in such a lofty position next season, not least because Chelsea, Tottenham and PSG - who committed nearly £400m over the summer to secure Neymar and Kylian Mbappe - are all likely to see more significant increases in their commercial earnings.

Arsenal face a significant impact from their failure to qualify for the Champions League, which it was estimated at the time could lead to a revenue shortfall of up to £50m. That could be compensated by a deep run in the Europa League, from which Money League leaders Manchester United earned £38.2m.

However, a more prolonged absence from Europe’s top table could have a negative impact on future commercial partnerships. Arsenal’s shirt contracts with Puma and Emirates run until 2019, while the airline has its stadium naming rights until 2028.

“There’s no doubt that sponsors will attribute more value to more exposure,” Tim Bridge, Deloitte Sports Business Group senior manager, told Standard Sport. “The Champions League is perhaps the top competition in world football for that exposure. This year’s report has shown that performance in Uefa competitions is critical.

“It’s fair to say that at the moment their competitors have outstripped them commercially but they are in the middle of many of their deals, as are Barcelona who dropped from second to third. When the agreements come up for negotiation again they’ll look to command similar terms to their domestic rivals.”

Arsenal currently find themselves sixth in the Premier League and facing a struggle to overhaul Liverpool and Tottenham and win back a place in the top four.

The Gunners are certainly showing a willingness to spend their way back to the Champions League and are expected to break their club-record £52.7m transfer fee, only set in the summer with the signing of Lacazette, to bring in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Borussia Dortmund.

On announcing the results Deloitte used for their annual Money League, chief executive Ivan Gazidis said Arsenal would “progressively reinvest all our available revenue in our playing resources as we look forward.”

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