Manchester City FPP blow confirmed with Arsenal set to benefit under one condition

On paper there's a lot to like about the spending cap being proposed by Premier League teams from an Arsenal perspective.

The new "anchoring" model would see the amount Premier League teams are able to spend tied to the amount of money earned in television rights by the lowest-earning club in the division. Last year that was Southampton, who earned £103.6million. Should the cap be set at five times that, then teams would have been able to spend £518million.

Arsenal would have fallen well within this. Their spend on their wage bill, amortised transfer costs and agents fees came to an estimated £326million last season. While the signings of Declan Rice, Kai Havertz, Jurrien Timber and David Raya combined with contract renewals for Bukayo Saka, William Saliba, Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel Maglahaes, Martin Odegaard, Aaron Ramsdale, Reiss Nelson, Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu will have changed that for this season's numbers, the Gunners should still hypothetically be fine.

The fact that these rules would come in to replace Profit and Sustainability Regulations would also benefit Arsenal. The Gunners were unable to sign Raya on a permanent basis or do any January transfer business due, in large part, to the current restrictions. With more room to manoeuvre under the "anchoring" system they would have been significantly more liberated to get those deals over the line.

Crucially, going forward Arsenal would also be well placed to benefit from these new rules. The Gunners have achieved a position of relative stability with the recent overhaul of Mikel Arteta's squad. They are not in a position where they need to spend huge amounts to close the gap on the top of the Premier League. Any investment would only improve a squad that has already shown themselves capable of taking Manchester City all the way in the title race. This is in stark contrast to the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea who will need to spend big once again if they are to catch up.

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City meanwhile, may have a squad that is already at a title-winning level too, but the new rules would not be as favourable to them. Their estimated spend on transfer amortisation, player salaries and agents fees last season, is thought to have been around £501million. This would leave them perilously close to the cap, severely restricting their ability to reinvest in Pep Guardiola's squad. It may even have forced them to sell some of their players.

This all looks good for Arsenal and it's easy to see why they're in favour. But it's rarely that simple. There are still a few things that the Gunners will want ironed out before the principles are officially voted on at a Premier League AGM in June.

Crucially they will need clarity on what the spending cap will look like in relation to other European competitors. This is understood to be Manchester United's biggest argument against "anchoring". Sir Jim Ratcliffe's INEOS company are heavy investors in rugby and will know from that sport what the perils can be. The English Premiership are currently losing several of their best players to France's Top 14 where clubs can afford offer significantly higher salaries.

It should be said that it's not quite the same here. "Anchoring" would not stop a team like United from being able to match the wages offered by a Real Madrid for example. However, their ability to do so on a consistent basis may be restricted by the cap. This could also have negative effects on Arsenal.

Last summer the Gunners were able to beat Bayern Munich to the signing of Rice. While other factors are understood to have been crucial, it may not have been so simple if the German champions had had exponentially more to spend on player wages and transfer fees.

It's easy to see why Arsenal are in favour here, but the Premier League has already had its fingers burnt by acting independently from the rest of the continent. When clubs voted to bring forward the end of the English transfer window to the start of the league season, they were ultimately the ones to suffer as the rest of Europe gained a competitive advantage.

This is something Arsenal must make sure they don't fall foul of before entering into any new set of regulations. If they overcome this hurdle though, the restructuring of the financial landscape could benefit the Gunners for years to come.