Arsenal boss Unai Emery reveals he has no money for transfers this month

THERE is only one problem with suggestions that Arsenal have held "successful talks" with Yannick Carrasco over a £25million move to the Emirates.

They haven’t got £25m to spend this month... in fact, they haven’t got anything to spend in the January transfer window.

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That is why they are still scrambling around trying to persuade Barcelona to let them have Denis Suarez on loan for the rest of the season.

And even that is unlikely to happen unless Barca drop their demands for a compulsory £20m purchase in the summer.

Unai Emery confirmed today: “We can’t pay for anyone. We can only sign loan players.

“I know the club is working on the possibility of bringing in a player who can help us now with big performances.

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“But I can’t say any more than that. I have no news about the recruitment situation.”

All of which has left baffled Arsenal fans asking how it has come to pass that a club with an annual turnover of £427m are suddenly skint.

The simple answer is that they’re not. It’s just that they have already spent their season’s budget and aren’t going to loosen the purse strings until the summer.

Emery is aware of the situation and is resigned to not making any major signings this month despite his need for a centre-half and a winger.

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The view at the club is that there is no value to be had in buying players in January and it is better to keep their powder dry for a major splurge in the summer.

They broke with that policy last year to sign Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang for a club record £56million to replace Alexis Sanchez.

But there is no major new arrival on the horizon this time as Arsenal continue to count the cost of being out of the Champions League.

Every year in the Europa League is costing them around £40million in lost TV revenue, prize money and sponsorship payments.

Their annual wage bill has also increased by as much as ten per cent in 2018, with Mesut Ozil’s new £350,000-a-week contract a major factor in the rise.

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And then there is the fact that they spent around £130m in transfer fees on Aubameyang, Lucas Torreira, Bernd Leno, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Matteo Guendouzi and Konstatninos Mavropanos.

They did manage to remove a number of big earners from the wage bill including Sanchez, Theo Walcott, Jack Wilshere and Olivier Giroud.

But they still only recouped £44m in transfer fees, leaving them with a net spend of £86m.

Emery’s biggest problem is that the club insist on spending within their limits and new managing director Vinai Venkatesham is not about to change that policy.

While title rivals Manchester City and Chelsea rely on the largesse of their billionaire owners, Stan Kroenke has never funded new signings with his own cash.

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He spent £600m in August to buy out Alisher Usmanov and secure sole ownership of the club.

And all but £46m of that was a bridging loan from Deutscher Bank which is costing him around £15m-a-year in interest payments.

The good news for Emery is that there will be major funds available in the summer when two lucrative new sponsorship deals kick in.

New kit suppliers adidas will be paying the club £50m-a-year to take over from Puma while the new Emirates shirt sponsorship is worth another £40m-per-annum.

Emery is already writing up his wish list for head of recruitment Sven Mislintat to get working on.

He is ready to settle for some short-term transfer pain as long as it means long-term gain in his grand project.