Wenger wary of Chinese market
LONDON. — Arsène Wenger has praised the growth in Chinese football and hopes India will soon “come to the game” as well but says it will be a long time before either can truly compete with the English Premier League.
The January transfer window has been dominated by stories linking the biggest stars in the English Premier League – from Diego Costa to Dimitri Payet – with big-money moves to China. Wenger believes it will take years for China to build a football culture that can properly compete with those in Europe but warns of “danger” should China-sized salaries become the norm.
“You do not create a top league just like that,” Arsenal’s manager said. “When you want to be a football player your first aspiration is to play in the best league with the best players. After that, you want to combine playing in the best league with the best players for the maximum amount of money. That combination is best in England right now. But professional football in England was created 150 years ago. And we still struggle, you know. I believe it’s a slow process of creating a football culture.
“In China it’s new. I know that situation well because, when I went to Japan in 1995, professional football
Murray on Djokovic's defeat
MELBOURNE. — Andy Murray yesterday downplayed Novak Djokovic’s shock exit from the Australian Open tennis tournament and said it was “unreasonable” to expect to the Serb to maintain his dominance long-term.
The top seed was as surprised as anyone by Djokovic’s defeat to 117th-ranked Denis Istomin in the second round, but he dismissed suggestions his rival was “struggling”.
“I mean, struggling by the highest standards,” Murray said, after he beat Sam Querrey 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 to reach the fourth round.
“But compared with most players, it’s not been that bad really... He has played some really good stuff over the last six or seven months, too. It’s just not been as consistent as what it was the three years before.“But how anyone is expected to keep up that level for their whole career, it’s just unreasonable to expect that of anyone.” — AFP. had only been in existence for three years. You expect reflexes from people that aren’t there; the culture of professional football is not there. So it will take time. But China has moved forward. It tries to promote football and I’m happy that football has become popular in China. I also expect India to come to the game too you know. I hope it will happen.”
Wenger’s relaxed attitude contrasts with that of many commentators who see deals such as the £52m, £400 000-a-week transfer of Oscar from Chelsea to Shanghai SIPG as distorting the transfer market. — The Guardian.