I completely know where you're coming from about the fans, although it's not really any worse than the sense of entitlement fans of any of the 'big' clubs have. While Arsenal hasn't redefined football in the way that Barce have, the way that they have stayed in the black and sustainably built a magnificent stadium (whilst also regenerating a big chunk of north London) is considerably different from the debt and/or sugar daddy model of virtually every other club in modern football.
Southampton may well have been able to avoid relegation to League 1 if they'd kept hold of Walcott and I'm sure they'd like to be able to field Oxlade-Chamberlain in the coming season, but the massive debts they built up (and to their credit, did not avoid through administration) gave them even less choice than when a bigger club comes a calling - perhaps if they hadn't built up so much debt they would have been in a better place?
£17 million may not be much for two established stars, but it's daft not to say that eyebrows weren't raised at the sums involved in these transfers, as neither player was really much more than a bag of potential at the time.
GET IN!! 
