Football suffers when a club spends like Manchester City or Chelsea, insists Arsenal boss Wenger

Aug 1, 2012 9:30:00 AM

The long-serving coach has expressed his frustration at the dominance of "mega-rich" institutions, and also claimed that the Gunners are wary of the European financial crisis

Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger has claimed that "football suffers" when clubs like Manchester City, Chelsea or Paris Saint-Germain boast "unlimited resources" to spend on players.

The Gunners have often made a net profit in the transfer market in recent seasons, in contrast to some of their big-spending rivals, but have not won a major trophy since 2005 despite consistently holding on to their place in the top four of the Premier League.

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PSG are the latest example of a club enjoying new mega-rich owners, having splashed around €95 million (£75m) in total on stars Ezequiel Lavezzi, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva this summer.

"We consider ourselves in a privileged position because we have a massive income," Wenger is quoted as saying by The Sun. "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 also criticised the lack of awareness of the financial crisis in Europe among football clubs and warned that the game was not immune to its effects.

"Europe at the moment is like the Titanic but in football we live like nothing matters," he bemoaned.

"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.

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"It is difficult for us because the wages at some other clubs are very high. But of course our players quite rightly compare themselves to the players of the other clubs."

When asked if Chelsea's victory in the Champions League could change anything in England, Wenger was doubtful and suggested that a club's league position was more indicative of their true quality.

"I don't see what it could change," he added.

"Maybe it will wake up the appetite of [Chelsea owner Roman] Abramovich again. I'm proud when any Premier League club wins the Champions League.

"It shows how competitive the Premier League is because Chelsea finished fifth in the Premier League and that is the real quality of a team.

"More than the Champions League it is about where you finish in the league. That just shows how good the Premier League is."

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