Wenger says £100m transfer fee ‘complete madness’

ARSENE Wenger believes Paul Pogba’s proposed £100 million move to Manchester United represents the “complete madness” of the modern transfer market.

France midfielder Pogba is reportedly set to join United for a nine-figure sum and Arsenal manager Wenger, currently in Los Angeles with the Gunners ahead of a pre-season friendly meeting with Chivas, suggested he’d not pay over the odds for any player.

He said: “It’s complete madness when measured against real life, but we live in a world in which everything is geared towards moving money around.

“It seems if you can afford to do it, you can justify it. Football has become a global competition and that is why clubs are chucking these kinds of sums around.

“Does it make sense because the player can deliver a return on that investment? I don’t think anyone can make that call. I’ve always thought there would be a limit to how much clubs could spend on a player but it looks like I’ve been proved wrong.”

Meanwhile, Arsenal continued their preparations for the forthcoming season with a 3-1 win over Club Deportivo Guadalajara in Los Angeles.

Goals from Rob Holding, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Chuba Akpom had the Gunners in control, before their Mexican opponents pulled a goal back from the penalty spot with 17 minutes remaining.

Holding opened the scoring in the 34th minute at StubHub Center — and it was 2-0 five minutes into the second half courtesy of an impressive individual goal from Oxlade-Chamberlain.

England U/21 international Akpom made it 3-0 six minutes later.

Guadalajara scored through Angel Zaldivar’s penalty, awarded after Debuchy had fouled Alex Zendejas.