Taking on richer rivals isn’t a new challenge, Wenger tells Mourinho
ARSENE Wenger has reminded Jose Mourinho that Arsenal have been competing with Manchester City’s excessive spending for years and that it is nothing new to them.
Mourinho complained about City’s spending in the aftermath of Manchester United’s 2-2 draw with Burnley on Boxing Day, pointing to the fact that City spend as much money on full-backs as most teams do on strikers.
City spent more than £50m apiece this summer on Kyle Walker from Tottenham and Benjamin Mendy from Monaco.
Mourinho said that he would need to spend more, because the £300m he has dished out at Old Trafford is “not enough”.
United spent £75m on Romelu Lukaku this summer and £89m on Paul Pogba last year, the two biggest signings ever by a British club.
Wenger has spent far less than that over the years and raised an eyebrow at Mourinho’s claim that United have far fewer resources than City.
“I have been in that position for 21 years so I can’t start to complain now,” said Wenger. “There’s always been three or four teams richer than I am. I’ve learned to cope with that. We deal with our own situation as well as we can. Manchester City, Chelsea and Manchester United are all richer than us. We have to find ways to be successful.”
The Frenchman also admitted that he expects to be busy during the January transfer window.
“I will be busy because first of all you have clubs who call you to get players on loan or to buy your players,” said Wenger. “I am open-minded on any possibility to strengthen our team.”
The Arsenal manager added that there have been no updates on the future of Alexis Sanchez, who looks set to leave in the summer when his current Arsenal contract expires.
He said: “We have not been approached and I stick to what I said before.”
Arsenal take on Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park tonight, with Olivier Giroud, Nacho Monreal and Aaron Ramsey all sidelined.
New Everton manager Sam Allardyce this week claimed Arsenal striker Giroud’s wife was the driving force behind the France star rejecting a summer move to Goodison Park. Gunners boss Wenger laughed off that claim.
He said: “He could have joined Everton and stayed basically in London. I don’t think that was the problem.”
On Jack Wilshere’s future, Wenger added: “I believe if we can meet a point of agreement financially he will want to stay.”