Just Arsenal News

The Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is worried about the state of the football clubs in England, and thinks that most of them are “living in dreamland”. Even the biggest clubs are in debt to massive amounts, including Arsenal, and he thinks it is time for everyone to get a wake-up call, and realise that when you borrow money, at some point you have to pay it back!

For that reason, he thinks that there will be few transfer deals done during the January transfer window.

“January won’t be busy,” warned Wenger, “because people don’t realise there is no money in football, in Europe, in general. We still live in dreamland in football because if you look at how many clubs are struggling in the Premier League and the Championship in England, it is time for us to get a wake up call and not think the situation will last as it has until now.”

“What is so terrible about debts is that at some stage you have to pay it back. If it was just an intellectual problem it is not terrible but at some stage somebody will knock at your door and say ‘Please, can you pay me back?’ And that is what is going to happen in football.

“It is certainly the worst financial situation in football in my 13 years in England,” said Wenger. “I can’t see the reason why the transfer market should be very busy because many clubs struggle financially.”

“When you have players out on loan, they struggle with the wages of the players. It is difficult and for the first time I see empty seats.

“I don’t know if a club will disappear, I hope not. But what is happening at the moment, all the clubs live in debt and think a rich owner will come and buy. That is what happened to Chelsea and that is what we thought happened at Portsmouth but you will find out that not necessarily everybody has the amount of resources needed today in football.”

There is not much one can say about that. It is certainly a fact that something needs to be done. But what?