Arsenal's reluctance to spend down to statistics - agent

Arsenal's refusal to match the spending of some of their Premier League rivals is down to the statistics they use to analyse players, according to an agent.

The Gunners paid significant fees to sign Shkodran Mustafi, Lucas Perez and Granit Xhaka this summer but Arsene Wenger had previously been criticised for his refusal to rival the likes of Manchester City and Manchester United in the transfer market.

In his new book 'The Deal', Jon Smith, who along with his brother Phil owned England's first major sporting agency, claims Arsenal's statistical analysis plays a significant role in creating a valuation of a potential target.

"Since Stan Kroenke took a majority shareholding in the club, they have created matrices for players, a bit like Moneyball," Smith explains in an extract published by the Evening Standard.

"And if a player doesn't quite meet all the criteria, the matrix tells them not to offer more than a certain amount. That is what Arsene means when he talks about value.

"Four years ago, they bought a company called StatDNA in Chicago, which owns an operation in Cambodia where they crunch every conceivable number relating to a footballer.