‘Where’s The Logic?’ – Arsene Wenger Rails At Chelsea Spending

Chris Wright

2nd, February 2011

17 Comments

By Chris Wright

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has criticised Chelsea for openly supporting UEFA’s imminent financial fair play rules (they don’t come into play until 2012/’13), while still managing to haemorrhage nearly £75 million on transfer deadline day – the very same day that the club posted losses of £70 million pertaining to their previous, double-winning campaign (2009/’10).

Speaking after Arsenal’s 2-1 Premier League win over Everton last night, Wenger told a press conference:

“Chelsea supported UEFA’s financial fair-play proposals but in the morning they announced a £70 million loss and in the afternoon they buy £75 million worth of players. Where’s the logic in that?

“It’s hard to guess. Officially they vote for financial fair play, but they can explain why they have done this much better than I can.

“[Roman Abramovich] can tell you why, but that’s how you can read it from the outside. If you don’t invest for a while, it looks as if you’re not as involved in it any more –  that he doesn’t like it as much anymore.

“But £75 million means more will come.

“Abramovich was in no-man’s land, where nobody could guess if he wanted to still invest or not. He has been like that for a long time but that has changed.

“He has decided to put big money in again and that tells you in the summer more will come. He is back to full investment.”

When it was pointed out to him that the team he fielded against Everton cost around £10 million less than Fernando Torres, Wenger replied:

“That’s why I sat back in my armchair on the bench and watched [the game] with satisfaction.”

I wonder if he ever gets lonely up there on his fiscally moral pedestal?

Posted in Arsenal, Chelsea, Transfers & Rumours

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17 Comments

  1. jamage says:

    He make’s a good point though. People can bemoan his lack of spending and his somewhat ‘high horse’ attitude, but there is no denying he knows exactly what he is talking about and is keeping arsenal in its best position financially for the future

  2. spectator says:

    i think his problem is more with the hypocrisy than the spending itself, at least in this case, and it is pretty blatant.

  3. slery says:

    it’s so out of character for wenger to be moaning.

    chelsea have spent a LOT and won a lot of trophies.

    arsenal haven’t spent nearly as much in that period and haven’t won anything for five years (or is it more?)?

    arsene wins the moral high ground. but that’s about it.

  4. goonerob says:

    Oh deary me Chelski have a slight dip in form and lose a few matches, the answer, despite their already huge losses, to spend £75 mil on 2 players and as rightly pointed out more than the cost of the entire Arsenal team last night. I would rather have a quality team that has been built properly over a period of years than operate the way Chelski,Man City, Manure and to some extent Liverpool and just buy players at their peak and need to replace them again 2 seasons later, Torres has probably only got 2 more years at his peak and then what , spend another 50 mil? Arsene’s frugality can be very frustrating at times but we are now reaping the benefits and we have a glut of high quality youngsters coming through to add to a quality team.
    I am obviously slightly biased but all clubs should run like Arsenal by building from within and only spending what you have.

  5. goonerob says:

    Slery is obviously a Chelsea boy and presumably very young as he fails to mention that Chelsea hardly won anything for over 50 years and when Roman finally gets fed up with spending his money they will probably go for another 50 before they win anything again because they do not spend enough on bringing through and developing youngsters. Creating a team is more than just spending money!

  6. GD says:

    Won the double without spending much and still posted 70m losses…
    Then this – it certainly doesn’t add up with the fair play rules to come in within 2 years time. Theres no way they can break even.

    My guess is Abramovich is having a cpl more full tilts at buy…. I mean winning the champions league and then when the fair play sanctions come in and Chelski are kicked out he will do one and walk, leaving Chelsea broke with high earners.

    I forsee Chelski going under, shame…

  7. George says:

    Arsene is trying to act like he didn’t buy any players because he didn’t want to waste the club’s money, but in fact he didn’t have a choice because all of his transfer budget has already been spent on snoods.

  8. Dawleylad says:

    Although Arsenal have lots of moeny because Wenger doesn’t spend it, they need their money to pay for the stadium and he is just crying because he can’t afford to by players like Torres.

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  9. Gibby says:

    He might not spend the money but he’s been connected with more teenagers from around the world than gary glitter ! 1st it was 17yr old Alex Oxlade Chamberlain(£10m), then 19yr old Croation (£8m), Now some 17yr old kid from Mexico. Big figures for guys who haven’t even tasted top flight footie just yet. Now i know he has an eye for talent, flair play to the big man but how much better would it be if they were british (i know Alex is ). He managed to do it with Wilthsire and now England will benefit from a class player. As for Chelski and LFC what would 70 odd and 50 odd million do for a youth academy. Could anybody at Pies be able to find out what the top 10 EPL clubs spend on youth development ?

  10. Zach says:

    I respect Wenger, and the way Arsenal put a good product on the field in a way that makes economic sense. Sure he has personal habits that are annoying, but who doesn’t. He is the guy that all managers should try to emulate and all clubs should try to hire. He buys low, sells high, does fairly well in league and cups, and insures that his club won’t be a bankrupt shell of itself in the future.

  11. asdf says:

    “Now i know he has an eye for talent, flair play to the big man but how much better would it be if they were british (i know Alex is ).”

    I think he would love to buy some talented English players, if they weren’t so ridiculously overpriced.

  12. Tom says:

    indeed, asdf.

    No end in sight to that claim either with the Carroll deal, the valuation of Ashley Young, etc. I hate when I hear that Arsenal should have some “proper lads” in the squad in order to have some grit. By that logic, I’m assuming Carroll is worth 15M in skill, 20M in “grit”.

    French players are traditionally under-valued vs. English/Brazilians players + his connections in France so it just makes more sense for him to buy there, more often than not.

  13. Scott says:

    I’d take RVP over Torres and he only cost less than 3 million. It’s amazing what you can do when you build players through your academy and get talented youth internationals and turn them into superstars. I’ll take that than 75 mil in one day.

  14. AussieSAm says:

    too bad he needed to but a defender at least in the window, not buying will see thm drop out of league contention

  15. says:

    Arsene better watch it or Abramovich will send some Russian mafia hitmen his way. While I do think Wenger is good at building a team from young talent, he hasn’t recently been able to prove that it works as well as fielding mercenaries (although we’ll see how the league cup final goes). I don’t see Arsene’s logic in loaning out something like 14 players this season and not bringing in a single center back to cover for his ailing back line. If he could field 11 60 kilo attacking middies I’m sure he would

  16. SNOOD says:

    HAHAHA too true Wenger forgets to include all the money he spent during the transfer market on gloves and snoods… haha touche George…. But F**K I still hate chelski damn straight their little streak with a rich a-hole will end and so will their chances for silverware… Useless club really

  17. Gibby says:

    @asdf . The point was not to go buying the talent but to grow and create from within through youth development. Every team in the world i think would love to follow the Barca model. How many of the current team are Spanish and how many came from the academy, manager included. The Spanish national team at WC2010 had someting like 3 players playing outwith spain. There must be loads of Arsenal Boys clubs up and down the country so surely it must be worth punting a few quid and invest in good scouts. Did they not manage to get Wiltshire at 9 ! saving them a cool £20mill going by last weeks mentalness !

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