Arsenal have released their latest financial figures, leaving chairman Sir Chips Keswick to lead the war cry over spending effectively.
While transfer fees continue to spiral, the North London club have little inclination to join the frenzy, and will remain prudent in their approach as they bid to compete at the top level.
In a season where they have broken their transfer record twice, the Gunners remain well off the pace in the Premier League, and were embarrassed in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday by Manchester City - who are 27 points clear of Arsenal with six games to go.
The figures, up to November 30, 2017, show that Arsenal Holdings plc now has cash reserves of £160.7million - inclusive of debt service reserves of £23million (not available for football purposes) - up £37.1million on their 2016 results as the club made a £20.4million after-tax profit.
Here are five things we learned from the reveal....
1. Rewarding failure?
"An increase in player wages is, once again, the single largest contributory factor in the club's increased operating costs" - Sir Chips Keswick.
The club’s latest accounts - up to November 2017 - show they did big business with the sales of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Wojciech Szczesny, Kieran Gibbs and Gabriel.
Between them, that quartet brought in almost £60million - or the cost of last summer's arrivals, Alexandre Lacazette and Sead Kolasinac.
Arsenal finished fifth last season, falling out of the top four for the first time under Wenger. So why have they effectively rewarded those that failed to the tune of £13million?
2. Turnover drop only increases Europa League pressure
Quite simply, the Champions League is the be-all and end-all for the big boys now. The need to be in Europe's premier club competition grows each year.
That shows in the club's football turnover decreasing this year, dropping to £23.4million on account of being in the Europa League - broadcasting and matchday revenues both decreased year on year.
The Gunners sit 10 points off the top four once again this term, and they have shown little to suggest that they can overhaul such a margin and get themselves back to the top table that way.
The Europa League offers an alternative route and, simply, is their best bet. The pressure is on to follow Manchester United's example.
3. Why spend, spend, spend won't be the Arsenal way
Most Read
The Gunners hierarchy have made quite the transition in the last nine months, revamping the structure of the club behind the scenes.
Raul Sanllehi joined from Barcelona to be the club's new head of football relations in November, joining Sven Mislintat, the 'Diamond Eye' who arrived from Borussia Dortmund as head of recruitment.
Mislintat arrives with a reputation for finding players who are undervalued and can be moulded into high-quality performers - to spot a player in the Japanese second division and truly believe he can shine in the Bundesliga, and push for his signing as a first team player as he did with Shinji Kagawa, takes balls - and Arsenal are set to become far more strategic in that regard.
A similar tact is what initially took them to the top under Wenger - think Patrick Vieira, Emmanuel Petit, Nicolas Anelka and Marc Overmars' signings - and now it will be updated for the modern era. Fans may well look at others and hope to spend, spend, spend, but that isn't going to become the new normal in North London.
"Our strategy remains self-financing and we must accept all the challenges that bring at a time when the inflation of transfer fees, player wages and the fees demands by agents has become super-heated," said Sir Chips Keswick.
"We need to spend effectively and be the best we can across the whole of our football operations if we are to compete at the level our ambitions for the club demand."
If you aren't going to outspend your rivals, then you have to be - and work - smarter. While club record deals for Lacazette and Aubameyang - plus the huge outlay on Ozil's contract - have been sanctioned, don't expect the Gunners to be heading up to the £100million mark soon; there will be no #PogBack or #PogBoom here.
Over to you Sven...
4. Cash in the bank
The Premier League's figures revealed last week that it can boast a staggering £1.6billion cash reserves sitting in its bank account.
For the Gunners, it's a far more modest figure, albeit one defined as "a robust cash position".
The figure stashed? £160.7million. That's up £37million from 12 months previously, but down £20million from May 31 2017.
As such, expect that figure to rise in the next set of accounts.
5. New commercial partners
The Gunners have inked a renewal of their partnership with Emirates, the "largest commercial deal we have ever signed", inking a deal until 2024 for shirt sponsorship worth around £200million.
World Remit, Cover-More, CashBet Coin, Hyde Park Developments, Universal, Konami and Cavallaro Napoli ave all become partners, while the club's online retail business also continues to grow. Pre-season trips to Sydney, Shanghai and Beijing are largely seen as the reason for this growth.
Louis van Gaal has this week lashed out at Manchester United for being about money rather than football. Arsenal fans may be asking themselves whether he had the right club?