Arteta addresses Arsenal job cuts as club plans around 60 redundancies

Mikel Arteta has said Arsenal’s planned job cuts were explained to him as part of efforts to improve the club and support future success. The Premier League champions are set to cut around 60 posts, with chief executive Richard Garlick informing staff this week that several departments would be affected, PA reported.

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BBC Sport reported that the reductions concern off-field roles and could affect up to seven per cent of Arsenal’s 871 permanent employees. Coaching and performance staff in both the men’s and women’s operations are outside the cuts. The Arsenal Foundation, Arsenal in the Community and security staff are also unaffected, according to the BBC’s account of the plans.

Asked about the redundancies at Friday’s news conference, Arteta initially said the question should not be directed to him. He then described the explanation he had received: that the club had analysed its operations and intended to improve by assigning people to appropriate roles while continuing to invest. PA reported that he declined further questions on the subject.

The announcement follows a new four-year contract for Arteta last week, after he led Arsenal to their first Premier League championship since 2004. His comments came at the news conference before Sunday’s match at Nottingham Forest. Arteta reiterated that he was not the appropriate person to answer questions about the staffing decision and asked that this be respected, according to PA.

BBC Sport reported that an external company’s workforce review was already under way before Arsenal won the league. The club’s financial results provide further background: revenues reached a record £691m in the 2024-25 financial year, but Arsenal still recorded an overall loss of £1.4m. Those figures were announced in February, rather than as part of this week’s staffing announcement.

The same accounts showed operating costs rising from £147.9m to £200.8m, according to the BBC. The planned reductions therefore follow a period in which both revenue and operating expenditure increased. Despite the club’s title success, the staffing changes are being directed at departments outside the protected coaching, performance, community and security operations.