Among the few who would desist from that view, until recently, was Wenger. It is only a few days since the Frenchman suggested that Arsenal's £143? million-a-year wage bill was based on a "socialist" model. Setting aside the fact that £1?million-a-year workers make unlikely revolutionaries, what he meant was that Arsenal operate a narrower band of wages than rivals such as Manchester City.
It was a diverting phrase but the reality is when it comes to pay Arsenal is a dictatorship, under the control of Wenger, the best paid and arguably the most powerful manager in the league.
There are a number of executives employed at Arsenal who have an input into transfer policy and contracts, including chief executive Ivan Gazidis and the man nominally in charge of negotiations, Dick Law. But by his own admission the final call rests with Wenger, with the manager setting wages and bonuses across the squad.
When it works, this combination is devastating, but when it does not the result is overpaid underperformers such as Gervinho, , Marouane Chamakh and Park Chu-young, whose only claim to fame is to have appeared as a note in the annual accounts, where his £5.5?million transfer and wages appeared as a write-off.
The limitations are more marked when Wenger's cast-iron views about a player's value, perceived within the self-imposed restrictions of Arsenal's self-sustaining model, bump into wider economic realities.
That was the case with Walcott this summer. While the club was apparently distracted by Robin van Persie's imminent departure and the signing of Santi Cazorla among others, negotiations with Walcott appeared to become an afterthought.
It was a remarkable oversight given that, like Cesc Fàbregas and others before him, the player was about to enter the last year of his contract.
When the club did come to negotiate the offer was a take-it-or-leave-it £78,000-a-week. Not a pittance and an improvement on his current £60,000 deal, but not enough to satisfy a player looking at the most important deal of his career. Walcott was not for being pushed and a remarkable stand-off ensued.
Aggrieved by the player's position, Wenger proceeded to drop him for every game that mattered in September and October.
Only when results suffered was he restored to the side, though not in the central role he favours. When he finally got to centre-forward in December he answered with four goals in three games including the agenda-setting hat-trick against Newcastle that opened the way to the new contract that will be presented in the coming days.
If he finally signs Wenger will be relieved, but it may not be the end of his troubles. The disgruntled denizens of the Emirates want more than to hang on to the squad they pay through the nose to watch. Averting the worst-case scenario of Walcott's departure needs to be the start, not the endgame.
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