USER1999
Grand Slam Winner
We'll probably never know but it's likely to be money. Not just the fee, wages but often the parasitic agents.
Arsenal just wont pay over the odds for a player and IMO if you are in bidding war then it's better to step away because the player is probably not worth fighting for.
Utd, City and Chelsea are willing to part with large sums all day long and if it doesnt work out then no problem they buy more.
I accept that certain players will sign for Utd because they are United but this won't apply to Chelsea or City quite the same way.
Quite a few players had Arsenal as a first choice, Mhkitarian and Mahrez to name a couple, but most of the time Arsenal never even put a bid in, despite showing interest with the player and his agent.
If you want to buy players, you have to be in the market.
I don't think there has been a coherent transfer strategy for 5 plus years. There's no identifying what is needed, draw up a short list, and go out and get what you need about Arsenal. If the best the scouting team could come up with was Vardy, they can't be working very hard. We have ended up with a team of busy midfield midgets. Even Ozil and Sanchez weren't planned, they were an accident, when the selling clubs needed to balance the books.