Arsenal’s annual wage bill moves ahead of Chelsea’s for first time in more than a decade Exclusive: Recent arrivals of Alexis Sanchez, Danny Welbeck and Mathieu Debuchy mean Arsenal are now third behind Manchester clubs in Premier League salary spendArsenal’s annual wage bill is understood to have moved ahead ofChelsea’s for the first time in more than a decade, the Daily Telegraph can disclose. Accounts for the year ending May 31, 2014 were published on Friday by Arsenal and revealed that the annual wage bill had increased to £166.4 million, while revenues exceeded £300 million for the first time in the club’s history. This summer’s transfer activity, however, is not included in the accounts and the net increase to the wage bill following the arrivals of Alexis Sanchez, Danny Welbeck, Mathieu Debuchy, David Ospina and Calum Chambers is around £15 million. That would put the wage bill for this current 2014-15 season at over £180 million. Chelsea’s most recently disclosed wage bill was £176 million, for the year ending 2012-13, but the Telegraph can reveal that this figure has stayed virtually static over the past two years amid the departures of older, higher-profile players like Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole and Fernando Torres. It all means that the financial figures relating to this current season – 2014-15 – are expected to show that Arsenal are now actually only third behind Manchester United and Manchester City in the Premier League for spending in salaries.