Arsenal could face a steep price for failure in Europa League final

Arsenal’s Europa League final defeat to Chelsea was painful for the club in isolation, however, it could hurt the club badly in the long term.

Unai Emery’s 19-game unbeaten streak in Europa League knockout ties came to an end at the fulltime whistle in Baku and now his Arsenal side could face a steep price for their loss as the Gunners head for a second season without Champions League football.

Losing the final comes with the usual letdowns, especially when it was by such a large margin to a local rival. However, defeat in this year final could hurt Arsenal’s summer ambitions as well.

Currently, the club is run on a self-sustaining model due both to fear of financial fair play and the reluctance of club chairman, Stan Kroenke, to invest any of his own money into the club.

"“Every single penny that we generate as a football club is available for us to invest against achieving that ambition, and that is the maximum that we can ask from our owners because that is the maximum allowed through the financial fair play rule,” Arsenal managing director Vinai Venkatasham said in a recent interview."

Losing this final could cost Arsenal dearly due to the financial disparity of playing in the Europa League to playing in the Champions League.

For instance, a team that wins every group stage game and then goes on to win the title could win up to 21.3 million Euros in prize money, the Champions League winner could win up to four times that amount.

As a result of not qualifying and thanks to their financial model, Arsenal transfer budget could fall as low as 40 million Euros for next summer, a stunningly low figure in a such an inflated market. This blow comes in a summer when goalkeeper, Petr Cech, is retiring,

Aaron Ramsey is leaving on a free to Juventus and several other players, including Laurent Kolsiceny and Alexander Lacazette, futures are in doubt.

Matters are made even worse as this Arsenal side are quietly getting older with Alex Iwobi and Lucas Torreria the few promising youngsters the club currently possess (though with another season of Europa football looming, one might wonder for how much longer).

There are points of optimism for Arsenal fans.

The club’s recent history, its ability to pay higher wages than any other non-Champions League club not to mention the attractive of living in London gives the club a lot of pulling power to soften the blow, however, no one can deny that the lack of premier European football at the Emirates severely limits the talent pool Arsenal can select from over the summer.

Wilfred Zaha, for example, has been heavily linked with a move to Arsenal next summer, however, the Crystal Palace winger has stated a desire to play for a club that are in the Champions League.

All in all, Unai Emery’s side need investment, that much was evident when Arsene Wenger left, was made even clearer evident at the end of the Premier League season and could become blindly obvious come the summer when key figures reveal their future plans.

With limited options, both monetary and talentwise, the Spanish manager will be desperate for Stan Kroenke to break his laissez faire ownership strategy or start searching between the coach cushions at the Emirates for loose change.