Wenger Blasts Manchester City Slickers 'living in Different World'

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Arsène Wenger has labeled Manchester City as the "new Chelsea" and as he addressed questions connected to the ­ethics of the club's fortune, the ­Arsenal manager revealed that rivals in the ­transfer market already knew that it was pointless trying to compete with them.

"It's exactly what happened when [Roman] Abramovich came in [at ­Chelsea]," he said. "You go to a player, you see that Chelsea's on the case and you move somewhere else. That is it."

City's spending power under their new multi-billionaire owner Sheik Mansour, and perhaps a shift in the game's financial power base, was evident at the end of last summer's transfer window when they beat Chelsea to the signature of the striker Robinho from Real Madrid. Yet it has been thrust under an even more glaring spotlight this week, with their astonishing £100m move for the Milan playmaker Kaka.

Wenger, who is refusing to be held to ransom by Zenit St Petersburg for his ­midfield target Andrei Arshavin, has rarely hidden his contempt for the manner in which Abramovich has spent lavishly on players at Chelsea but he now has a fresh outlet for his scorn.

"I believe that if a club produces £100m through the way it manages itself, then it's not immoral to buy a player at any price," he said, when asked whether City's bid for Kaka felt morally wrong. "Because they can decide, 'Look … we have produced that kind of money, we can decide to spend it like we want'. In this case, it's a bit different because it's income from ­outside from one specific person or a group of persons."

Wenger is a passionate advocate for ­living within one's own financial means – "It is a satisfaction for a club to live within its natural resources," he repeated yesterday – and he has called for controls to make such policies mandatory. Are those who do not operate within the confines of their turnover effectively cheating? "It would be cheating if the rules wouldn't allow it," Wenger said. "The rules allow it so you cannot say it is cheating. It is unfair competition, maybe, but it is not cheating because the rules allow it."

Wenger was outspoken about City. "It does not look real," he said, about their overtures to Kaka. "It's like an abstraction. It does not look in connection to today's world. The implications would be disturbing for the market, an inflationary trend in a deflationary world. We live in the real world. City are in a different world."

The Frenchman harbours genuine fears about the impact of the global financial crisis on the game in this country. Through his policies, he believes he is safeguarding Arsenal against an uncertain future but he does not see City, in particular, as doing the same.

"At the moment, England loses 3,000 jobs every day," he said. "You think that has no consequence on our game? It will have. You can hide behind Man City ­buying Kaka for £100m but that is an exception to what is happening in our world. I believe that having responsibility is to anticipate the future.

"Everything depends on Abramovich and the guy who is investing at Man City," Wenger added. "If they get tired of it, they can stop it. But what I mean is that these are two clubs who do not have the same rules as other clubs. I don't know what are the reasons [behind the City take­over]. Is it love of Man City? Is it the love for an investment? But they have made it difficult for themselves because they bought on the doorstep of one of the biggest clubs in the world, [they bought] a club who already has a big rival there."

Wenger said that Arsenal remained in negotiations with Zenit over Arshavin but he was typically nonchalant about the deal, pointing out that the player was cup-tied in the Champions League and that his impact, should he arrive this month, would not be felt immediately.

"It is not an absolute worry because we have so many players who will come back soon [from injuries]," said Wenger. "We focus on them. Also, speaking about a player like Arshavin, he cannot play in the Champions League. If he comes here now, he will have 15-16 games and it will take five, six, seven, maybe 10 games to adapt. We are not in a hurry to do things like that and he is not the only player we are on. We spend the money we have and not the money we don't have."

© Guardian News & Media 2008
Published: 1/15/2009