Wenger shows no sympathy to Man City in BRILLIANT FFP interview – They bought ALL MY PLAYERS!
Over time, Arsene Wenger has shown minimal empathy towards Manchester City facing scrutiny over violations of Financial Fair Play regulations.
Accusing them of excessive spending in the transfer market, the former Arsenal manager remarked during the 20th Laureus Sports Awards in 2020, “City acquired all of my players!”
“My belief is that sport is about trying to win by respecting the rules. We celebrate the best in every sport – but only if we know the winners respect the rules.
“If there is no respect then it’s not real sport. The table is always linked to the amount of money clubs spend on players.
“Historically it was about the turnover of clubs – and more or less it used to be pretty much the same. But the financial strength of the top clubs has become stronger than it was 20 or 30 years ago.”
Wenger continued: “I was always in favour of financial control on clubs and income that is not natural.
“I am also convinced that the rules still have to evolve into something better – but at the moment they are what they are. If it is proven that this has been done on purpose then City cannot go unpunished.
“I don’t know the case well enough to say what kind of punishment has to be made.
“I don’t know if it is planned to take City’s title away because I don’t know the rules well enough.
“But the difference between the big clubs and the smaller clubs has become bigger – and we can now predict with accuracy what is going to happen in every league.”
Emmanuel Adebayor, Samir Nasri, Gael Clichy, and Bacary Sagna departed Arsenal to join financially well-off Manchester City.
Wenger’s comments now seem quite prophetic, given that City has faced charges for 100 Financial Fair Play breaches.
Notably, Wenger addressed the same concern when the Sky Blues received a ban from the UEFA Champions League for failing to adhere to FFP regulations.
Wenger shows no sympathy to Man City in BRILLIANT FFP interview – They bought ALL MY PLAYERS!