Wenger: Fans will soon decide on substitutions using social media

Arsene Wenger has predicted that within five years supporters will be able to decide which substitutions are made during games by using social media.

The former Arsenal manager claims clubs are losing power, both to players and to fans.

“In the next five years, it might happen that social media substitutes players during a match,” he told German newspaper Bild. “They will have a hook-up at halftime and determine which players get substituted and who will be brought on during the second half.

“The power of clubs will only decrease. That’s why the heads in the clubs must become stronger. You must step up the fight against the influence from the outside.”

Wenger, who left Arsenal this summer after 22 years as manager, said that he wanted to return to management in January and re- vealed that he had received “inquiries from all over the world”.

He was not certain that he would return to club management, instead saying that he could manage a national team. Whichever team he joined, he acknowledged that he would return to a world that was very different to when he began as Arsenal manager.

“Footballers played for the club 20 years ago,” Wenger said. “These days, clubs do everything for the players. In the past, [a player] felt guilty when he played bad. These days, clubs feel guilty towards their players and ask themselves what more can be done.

“The fans have become more international. Local fans might stay local fans and those living in, say, Dortmund and the surroundings will always go to see BVB.

“But if [Cristiano] Ronaldo leaves [Real] Madrid for Juventus, the fans follow him to Juve. The international base is more interested in players than in clubs.

“This hands a lot of power to the players. Neymar has some 170million followers. He alone is stronger than the league.”

Wenger also joined the debate over Mesut Ozil’s retirement from international football, saying he worries that the playmaker will lose motivation without the incentive of playing for Germany.

“A bit of motivation disappears when you know that you don’t have to be ready for a World Cup, a European Championship,” he said.