Arsenal 'on UEFA watchlist for potentially breaching Financial Fair Play rules'

Arsenal have reportedly been placed on a UEFA watchlist of clubs at risk of breaching Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations.

It is understood that 20 clubs across Europe have been identified for the year 2021-22 by UEFA, one of which is the Gunners, according to The Times.

However, UEFA have not received the final accounts from these teams, meaning it is still not clear as to how much danger Arsenal could potentially be in of not abiding by the rules.

Arsenal have reported losses of £213m over the last three years, while UEFA rules only allow €30m (£25m) over this period. However, the governing body do allow covid-related losses, and 'healthy' spending on women's football and the academy to be written off.

Despite their significant losses, the north London club have still spent heavily in recent transfers windows. They were the highest spenders in the top flight last summer, splashing out £150m on players including Ben White, Martin Odegaard and Aaron Ramsdale.

Mikel Arteta has also been backed by technical director Edu Gaspar in the current window, bringing in Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko from Manchester City, plus Fabio Vieira from Porto.

The former duo have started well at the Emirates, helping Arteta's team to three straight wins at the start of the season to take Arsenal top of the table.

Meanwhile, sanctions are set to be handed down shortly to 10 European sides for breaching the rules up to 2020-21. These clubs include Barcelona, PSG and Italian trio Juventus, Inter Milan and Roma.

The current FFP regulations are due to be altered next year, with UEFA putting in place rules that will restrict clubs to spending a certain percentage of their revenue across 12 months on wages, transfers and agent fees.

This limit will stand at 90 per cent in 2023, will drop to 80 per cent the following year, before decreasing even further to 70 per cent from 2025.