Arsenal could have signed top striker for title push in January, says FFP expert

ARSENAL could have signed a top striker in January to boost their title push.

That's according to a Financial Fair Play expert, who claims that money was available for Mikel Arteta last month.

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Arsenal will be hoping to go one step further than last season and top the table for the first time since 2004.

But without an established goalscorer, they are currently five points behind leaders Liverpool.

Arsenal were heavily linked with a mega-money transfer for Brentford's Ivan Toney this winter.

Napoli star Victor Osimhen was another star on Arteta's list.

And Arsenal also retained a stake in Juventus' Dusan Vlahovic.

Yet the Gunners were left empty-handed due to reported FFP restrictions.

However, financial expert Stefan Borson insists this was not the case.

Appears on talkSPORThe stated that Arsenal's owners could have invested in more equity.

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That would have taken their spending limit from £15 million to £105 million.

And with those amounts, Arsenal could have signed any striker of their choice.

Borson explained: “You have a combination of teams that have chosen not to spend money, so those are teams like Arsenal.

“Because Arsenal could have spent money if they wanted to.

'If they invested in the necessary equity they could increase their cap to £105 million, up from the £15 million it is now.

“But they chose to stay out of the market. It is always very difficult to calculate the exact amount (that they could have spent).

“Certainly tens of millions of pounds for a player, they could have bought the striker that everyone thinks they need.

'If they had chosen to do that, the owners would have had to inject a very significant amount of equity.

“They should have put their hands in their pockets and ultimately, like most in the game around Europe, I think there is a limit.

“And people say, 'I actually don't want to do it anymore.'

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