Skip to main content

Arsenal’s Wenger concerned by Chinese spending power

Arsene Wenger fears the huge wages being offered by big-spending Chinese clubs could cause problems when the Premier League teams look to negotiate new contracts with their star players. 

Wenger is currently locked in talks with Arsenal duo Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez as the pair reportedly seek parity with the best-paid players in the Premier League.
The Arsenal manager is hoping for successful resolutions to those contract stand-offs, but he believes the money on offer in the China Super League may persuade the Premier League’s star names to ask for even bigger pay packets to stay in England.
Chelsea striker Diego Costa has been linked with a move to China, with an offer of £600,000-per-week ($739,000) reportedly on the table for the Spain international.
Two of his former Chelsea team-mates, Oscar and John Obi Mikel, have already moved to Super League outfits, while former Manchester United striker Carlos Tevez became the highest-earning player in the world when he joined Shanghai Shenhua in December.
“That’s the danger, that the Chinese offers become the benchmark for Europe,” Wenger said on Thursday when asked if the money on offer in China could complicate negotiations with top players.
“You cannot compete with that but I still think that, when you’re a footballer, the first thing is that you want to play against the best players in the best teams.
“Of course it’s a worry but it happened in Europe before. It also happens when you’re at a smaller club. 
“Sometimes we had periods where we could not financially compete with the bigger clubs who took our players away from us. It can happen inside the country.”
Despite his fears, Wenger is confident most leading players would want the prestige of playing Europe’s superpowers rather than uproot for financial gains in the much less heralded Chinese league.
“My thought is that when you want to be a football player, your first aspiration is to play in the best league, against the best players,” he said.
“That has to be the first target, after that when you are a professional football player you want to combine the fact you can play in the best league, against the best players, for the maximum amount of money.
“I think that combination is the best in England at the moment, so I don’t see why the players should leave the English Premier League.
“But China has moved forward, tries to promote football and I’m happy that football becomes very popular in China, but I still think most of the players, of the big players, will stay in Europe at the moment.”


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

GHANA: NDC condemns NPP attack on members

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has expressed dissatisfaction about the alleged unprovoked attacks on members of the Party, following the Electoral Commission’s declaration of the results of the 2016 Presidential Elections. “We have received several reports of unprovoked physical attacks on supporters of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), across the country,” a statement issued by the NDC National Organiser in Accra and copied to the Ghana News Agency said. “We wish to request the leadership of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and President-elect Nana Akufo Addo to call on their supporters to desist from the attacks and contribute to building a more stable democracy. These attacks are nothing more than situations that can only create chaos should the attacked also decide to defend themselves. “While urging the Security Agencies to move in and protect life and property, we believe that our political parties must be interested in promoting political tolerance among...

KATSINA: SSG APPOINTS ‘YAR’ADUA’ AS NEW CHIEF PRESS SECRETARY

The Secretary to the government of Katsina State, Dr. Mustapha  Mohammed Inuwa has approved the appointment of Alhaji Abdullahi Aliyu Yaradua as the new Chief Press Secretary of his office. Yar’adua holds a Diploma in Hausa Studies from Katsina Polytechnic; Higher Diploma in Mass Communication from Hassan Usman Katsina Polytechnic and a Diploma in Journalism from International Institute of Journalism (IIJ), Abuja. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English from Al-Qalam University Katsina and a Masters Degree in English Literature from Bayero University, Kano. Before his appointment, Yar’adua was the Head of Political Unit of Katsina State Radio and  two terms Chairman of NUJ Katsina State Radio Chapel and the immediate past Secretary of the Katsina state Council of the NUJ.  Credit: Katsinapost

Homosexuality: One Auwalu Yusuf in prison for raping 2 boys in KANKARA

A Katsina magistrate court has remanded one Auwalu Yusuf, 25, of Maddobal village in Kankara town for allegedly sodomizing  two teenagers aged between 12-14 years. Yusuf, who was apprehended and handed over to the police by vigilante officers at the community, was charged with unnatural offence contrary to Section 284 of the Penal Code. According to the Police First Information Report read at the court, the accused criminally entised the victims with his money by taking them to Pole Wire side at Dandutse Quarters and individually sodomised them. The prosecutor, Inspector Kabir Mohammed, told the court that the victims reported the matter to their elder brother who in turn reported the matter to the vigilante, adding that upon interrogation, the said Auwal Yusuf confessed to have committed the act. The presiding magistrate, Fadila Dikko, remanded the accused and adjourned t he case to February 23, saying that it was brought for mention only as the court has no jurisdicti...