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Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger believes clubs are adopting a more cautious transfer policy
The Frenchman was critical of the £1.34 billion losses sustained by European sides over the last year but believes more will start to follow the Gunners’ style of business
1 Feb 2012 08:31:00
By Joel Lamy
Arsen Wenger - Arsenal
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger believes that this season's January transfer window has shown that clubs are finally beginning to bring some balance to their finances.
The Frenchman compared this window to the one from last year where over £100 million was splurged on three players in Fernando Torres, Andy Carroll and David Luiz.
The window shut on Tuesday with nothing like the same level of spending conducted. Indeed, relegation-threatened QPR did the most business, bringing in a number of players such as Djibril Cisse and Bobby Zamora.
Arsenal’s only signing was 19-year-old Thomas Eisfeld from Borussia Dortmund who arrived on deadline day for a nominal fee, and Wenger believes that this current trend of spending will continue into the future with clubs no longer able to rack up the same level of debt as before.
"The figures show you [that there is more caution]," he told the club’s official website.
"You must say as well that you had big transfers last year with Torres, Carroll and David Luiz. This package alone was about £100 million, but still there is a significant difference because we are in a recession period and everybody suffers.
"I don't know if you have seen the numbers in Europe but [according to a Uefa report on football clubs] there are €1.6 billion [£1.34 bn] losses, that's not debt but losses.
"That is absolutely amazing. That means tomorrow if you had to stop your activity, half of Europe would be bankrupt.
"It means that football has to respond and I don’t know if financial fair play will come in, but it looks like economically the whole of Europe is becoming a bit more cautious."
One player whose value continues to rise is Robin van Persie after his two penalties on Sunday in the 3-2 comeback win over Aston Villa pushed him level with fellow Dutchman and club legend Dennis Bergkamp in club's all-time goalscorers list.
"What is amazing is that you look at the number of games Robin has played and the number of goals scored, and [his record] becomes absolutely top, top class,” he said.
“You have national class, international class and world class, and Robin is world class.”
The Frenchman also confirmed that Marouane Chamakh would return to the club by the end of the week after Morocco were knocked out of the African Cup of Nations at the group stage.
He added: “He played in the first game, and for the second game he was in hospital because he had a stomach bug, but he should play tonight [in Tuesday's 1-0 win over Niger].”
The Frenchman compared this window to the one from last year where over £100 million was splurged on three players in Fernando Torres, Andy Carroll and David Luiz.
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The window shut on Tuesday with nothing like the same level of spending conducted. Indeed, relegation-threatened QPR did the most business, bringing in a number of players such as Djibril Cisse and Bobby Zamora.
Arsenal’s only signing was 19-year-old Thomas Eisfeld from Borussia Dortmund who arrived on deadline day for a nominal fee, and Wenger believes that this current trend of spending will continue into the future with clubs no longer able to rack up the same level of debt as before.
"The figures show you [that there is more caution]," he told the club’s official website.
"You must say as well that you had big transfers last year with Torres, Carroll and David Luiz. This package alone was about £100 million, but still there is a significant difference because we are in a recession period and everybody suffers.
"I don't know if you have seen the numbers in Europe but [according to a Uefa report on football clubs] there are €1.6 billion [£1.34 bn] losses, that's not debt but losses.
"That is absolutely amazing. That means tomorrow if you had to stop your activity, half of Europe would be bankrupt.
"It means that football has to respond and I don’t know if financial fair play will come in, but it looks like economically the whole of Europe is becoming a bit more cautious."
One player whose value continues to rise is Robin van Persie after his two penalties on Sunday in the 3-2 comeback win over Aston Villa pushed him level with fellow Dutchman and club legend Dennis Bergkamp in club's all-time goalscorers list.
"What is amazing is that you look at the number of games Robin has played and the number of goals scored, and [his record] becomes absolutely top, top class,” he said.
“You have national class, international class and world class, and Robin is world class.”
The Frenchman also confirmed that Marouane Chamakh would return to the club by the end of the week after Morocco were knocked out of the African Cup of Nations at the group stage.
He added: “He played in the first game, and for the second game he was in hospital because he had a stomach bug, but he should play tonight [in Tuesday's 1-0 win over Niger].”
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Live!
England 1-0 Belgium, Netherlands 4-0 Northern Ireland - follow all the international action LIVE! ahead of Euro 2012
With countries across the continent gearing up for their final warm-up games ahead of Euro 2012, join us for all the action from Saturday's friendlies. Get in touch with us via Twitter with your reaction.
Hosted by Joe Doyle
Hosted by Joe Doyle
19:59 BST
Unfortunately for Northern Ireland, they are trailing the Netherlands 4-0 at half-time. Looks like that one's all sewn up then.
19:54 BST
We're still getting plenty of Hazard chat on Twitter. A few are now saying that he's not worth the hype, others saying he was brilliant(!?) and others (which I agree with), saying he created much of his own hype. What do you think? Get involved!
19:46 BST
Joe Hart has also been giving his thoughts after the Belgium game: "It was a really tough game, a good run out. I thought we played well, [but] we were a little bit bitty at times.
"But, we came through. Obviously there were a lot of changes so it's good to get the result.
"Belgium are a very, very strong side who are going to be really good in the future. Vincent [Kompany] told me about them and said that they were coming good and I totally agree with him."
"But, we came through. Obviously there were a lot of changes so it's good to get the result.
"Belgium are a very, very strong side who are going to be really good in the future. Vincent [Kompany] told me about them and said that they were coming good and I totally agree with him."
19:38 BST
Here's Roy Hodgson's reaction to the result and some injury chat: "I'm very pleased, it's been a hard week and we've used a lot of players. There was a lot of disruption in the second-half with substitutions – some forced upon us, some we wanted to do. But it's still a very good end to the week playing against a good Belgian team here. Arguably even stronger than the Norwegian team we played last week and I've got to be more than happy that we've come out with another victory."
"[Gary] Cahill I suppose is slightly more of a concern for me because it is a jaw injury. We're desperately hoping the CT scan doesn't show any fracture and it's just going to be a bruising situation, which will be bad enough, but won't stop him taking part in the tournament. As far as John's [Terry] concerned he felt his hamstring a little bit. Again it wasn't a major thing when he came off but we still need to scan it just to be 100 per cent sure."
Suffice to say, if Cahill has broken his jaw, he won't play any part in the tournament.
"[Gary] Cahill I suppose is slightly more of a concern for me because it is a jaw injury. We're desperately hoping the CT scan doesn't show any fracture and it's just going to be a bruising situation, which will be bad enough, but won't stop him taking part in the tournament. As far as John's [Terry] concerned he felt his hamstring a little bit. Again it wasn't a major thing when he came off but we still need to scan it just to be 100 per cent sure."
Suffice to say, if Cahill has broken his jaw, he won't play any part in the tournament.
19:35 BST
And another point from today: Eden Hazard wasn't great. Don't think you can judge him on one performance though. What do you think? Is it just a case of too much hype around the Chelsea-bound Belgian?
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