Impressive profits for Gunners

Arsenal’s decision to sell Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri helped them report a huge pre-tax profit of £49.5 million for the six months to the end of November.

The Gunners, who lost £6.1 million over the same period in 2010, might have made only a small profit but for the controversial departures of Fabregas and Nasri last summer for a reported £54 million.

Arsenal enjoyed an overall profit on player trading of £46.1 million, having made a loss of £5.9 million the previous year.

They made £63 million overall in player sales, while there was an investment of £74.7 million in new arrivals and contract extensions, the cost of both being spread evenly over the length of an individual’s deal.

Arsenal’s cash reserves also swelled to £115.2 million, up from £110.4 million, with their turnover from football rising to £113.5 million from £97.6 million.

Chief executive Ivan Gazidis said: “It’s important to acknowledge that the most important thing for this football club, the most important thing for our fans, and the most important thing for the board and the people that work at the club is how we do on the pitch.

“We have a healthy cash balance of £115 million for the half year. But it’s important to understand that not all that money’s available to invest in transfers.

“We have running costs of the club, player salaries and so on, so that amount goes down during the year. We also have to keep something in reserve.

“We have to invest efficiently, we have to invest sensibly.”