Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis says spending big money on transfers has become less important in achieving Premier League success
Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis has argued the ability to spend more money on transfers than your rivals is becoming less determinative of Premier League success.
His comments may be interpreted as a playing down of fans' expectations for the club's transfer window ambitions this summer.
Since signing Swiss midfielder Granit Xhaka for £30m in May, Arsenal have failed to make any significant additions to their squad and were rebuffed in attempts to sign Leicester's Jamie Vardy.
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Arsenal have failed to win the Premier League for 12 years and were beaten to the title by Vardy and co last season, despite sitting on a cash balance of £160m.
But according to Gazidis, Leicester's triumph has proved there is now more to securing success in the Premier League than dipping into the club coffers and racking up huge transfer receipts.
"The big clubs can't financially bully the smaller clubs in the way they used to," he told ESPN FC.
"It's how well you can identify talent. It's how well you can develop talent. It's how strong your club philosophy is. It's how together you are as a football club, what your support services are like in the medical field, fitness, analytics, psychology. All of these things become differentiators."
"I think Leicester are the vanguard of a changing dynamic within the Premier League…it's good news for fans of Arsenal because I think the keys to success will be how well you do things, and not just about financial firepower."
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Arsenal, believed to searching for a new striker ahead of the new season, have been linked with a big money move for Inter Milan's Mauro Icardi and Napoli's Gonzalo Higuain.
Yet Gazidis cited Leicester's ability to identify future Premier League winners such as N'Golo Kante and Riyad Mahrez in the French second division as another route to silverware.
Last season Arsenal poached the Foxes' head of technical scouting Ben Wigglesworth and made him the first-team video scout at the Emirates.
"Of course everyone is engaged in the transfer market, and of course there's a tremendous media focus on that," argued the American.
"I'm not saying that's not important. It is an important piece of the puzzle.
"There are so many other pieces to the puzzle that are critical contributors to success but are perhaps a little less glamorous."