Arsenal Manager Arsene Wenger and Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho certainly do not see eye to eye on a lot of things. Although the two men often disagree, and have often found themselves clashing on multiple occasions, they seem to be on the same page regarding the 2017 summer transfer market.
Three days ago, Mourinho ripped the price inflation in the transfer market, describing the situation as “very strange” and “out of control.”
Wenger has now joined his rival in stating his beliefs that the prices being paid for players these days is way out of control.
Ahead of Arsenal’s Emirates Cup matchup with Benfica, Wenger said: “The difficulty is to bring top-level players in because you pay a huge amount of money for very normal players at the moment. As well, all the big clubs are chasing the same players and that provokes huge inflation.”
The Premier League has seen a massive financial windfall, via the massive increase in price for broadcasting rights. The rocketing revenue streams generated by television contracts makes the clubs richer, and therefore allows them to spend more on acquiring top notch players.
This summer alone, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool all broke their club records for individual transfer fees.
Manchester United broke the world record last summer, by paying £89.3 million for Paul Pogba. They made another top ten most expensive in history buy this summer with Romelu Lukaku at £75 million. Additionally, they signed Victor Lindelof at £31 million, and thus spent £106m on just two players.
Wenger does see some opportunities in the market though. His remarks weren’t all pessimistic, as the Frenchman said he and his club remain on alert for when the chances to potentially strike a good deal emerge.
“I think you have always to be on alert every day, because a good opportunity might turn up. Sometimes people you are after for a long time are not available and suddenly they become available,” he added.
“So you have always to be on alert. That’s what we do.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV.
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