Arsenal chief executive Vinai Venkatesham says he has had sleepless nights over recent staff redundancies.
The club were criticised for buying players shortly after announcing 55 redundancies - mainly affecting the commercial and administrative departments - on 5 August.
Senior staff, including manager Mikel Arteta and his players, took pay cuts.
"I would be lying if I said there had not been sleepless nights," Venkatesham said.
Nine days after announcing the redundancies, Arsenal signed Willian on a three-year deal from Chelsea nine days later, before paying Lille £23.14m for Brazilian defender Gabriel Magalhaes at the beginning of September.