Since 2007, Arsenal have spent only 1% of their available cash flow in the transfer market according to an astonishing report by The Swiss Ramble today.

The soccer financial blog goes into exhaustive detail regarding Arsenal’s impressive financial fair play status, but also reminds readers what Arsenal Chief Executive Ivan Gazidis boasted at the beginning of this summer:

“This year we are beginning to see something we have been planning for some time, which is the escalation in our financial firepower. We have a certain amount of money which we’ve held in reserve. We also have new revenue streams coming on board and all of these things mean we can do some things which would excite you.
Asked whether Arsenal could now pay a £25million transfer fee and wages of £200,000 for one world-class player, Gazidis said: “Of course we could do that. We could do more than that.”

Gazidis’s words could come back to haunt him unless Arsene Wenger makes a significant signing in this window. There were reports last night that Arsenal were in talks with Luiz Gustavo, but speculation out of Germany reports today that Wolfsburg is the preferred destination for the Bayern Munich player.

The Swiss Ramble sums up Arsenal’s financial supremacy by stating, “As at the end of the 2011/12 season (the latest year when football clubs have published their accounts), Arsenal had an incredible £154 million of cash, which is significantly higher than any of their competitors with Manchester United the closest with £71 million (less than half the Gunners’ cash pile). An even more amazing statistic is that Arsenal have almost as much cash as the rest of the Premier League’s other 19 clubs combined (£181 million).”

So why is Arsenal Football Club, and manager Arsene Wenger, so stubborn in the transfer market and seemingly unable to compete against the other teams in the Premier League who have made significant buys this summer? All Arsenal have to show for itself is a free transfer signing of Yaya Sanogo from Ligue 2.

There’s no doubt that Arsenal have a strong foundation and a squad that’s filled with superb players, but in order to push on from where they are to win silverware, they need to spend this summer to plug the holes where they need help.