Arsene Wenger expects to see football affected by the economic crisis in Europe and has warned big spending clubs like PSG, City and Chelsea about UEFA financial fair play that too much spending can bring down their club in the future. Wenger an Economic student himself is thankful that Arsenal are on a safe financial footing.
Wenger warns PSG, Man City and Chelsea over financial fair play
Arsenal have already spent over £20million this summer bringing in Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud. Wenger could be set to splash out again, this time £16million on Malaga winger Santi Cazorla. The Arsenal manager realises the club can only spend what they earn but is thankful that the sustained success of the team, playing in the Champions League each year, keeps cash flowing into the club.
“We consider ourselves in a privileged position because we have a massive income,” Wenger said. “But overall we are not mega-rich because we do not have unlimited resources.
“A club can buy players like PSG has done or Manchester City or Chelsea, with unlimited resources, but overall football suffers.
“Look at the activity on the transfer market since the start of the summer.
“PSG are ambitious and they have resources and that’s it. We talk always about the same things.
“I don’t think anything is new in that domain.”
Wenger’s criticism of clubs such as PSG, Manchester City and Chelsea comes during another summer in which Arsenal best players are being tempted away with lucrative offers. Robin van Persie looks likely to leave the club and Manchester City is a possible destination.
Last season, Gael Clichy and Samir Nasri also moved to the Etihad Stadium while this summer, PSG have paid big money for Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva from another of Europe’s biggest clubs, AC Milan.
However, Wenger has warned these clubs that recent events outside of football, has shown that reckless spending cannot be sustained forever and it could leave them in peril.
“Europe at the moment is like the Titanic but we live in football like nothing matters,” Wenger continued. “More than ever we have to run our club in a strict way because it looks like everybody suffers in Europe.
“I would be surprised if football is not touched by it at some stage.
“If you look at debt in football across Europe at the moment it is quite massive and we have to be responsible.
“We have to be ambitious but also make sure we are not getting in trouble financially.”