Wenger: 'Manchester City are in another world'

Caption competition
Caption competition
News in pictures
News in pictures
On Facebook
Sport blogs

iBet: Serena Williams looks hungry again

Serena Williams has looked right back to her best in recent weeks and more importantly she looks hun...

Manchester City top the ‘injury league’, with Manchester United bottom

The results of new research into every significant injury suffered by every Premier League footballe...

Stereotypical Germany? With the defence ‘forgotten’, think again

The blunt exposure of Germany's defensive problems in their last two friendlies has certainly served...

Manchester City's £100m move for AC Milan's Brazilian star Kaka would create a "disturbance" in the transfer market, according to Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.

City remain hopeful of landing Kaka, with wages of a staggering £500,000 said to be on offer.

With the Manchester club bankrolled by the vast funds of owner Sheikh Mansour of the Abu Dhabi United Group, who took over in the summer, Wenger accepts that they, just like Chelsea in the past, operate outside the normal parameters.

"It does not look real to me at all. It is like an abstraction," said Wenger, who continues to pursue Russian playmaker Andrei Arshavin, but not at an inflated fee.

"It does not look in connection with today's world because on one side we have the economic situation which is quite worrying and for me this is abstraction.

"We live in a football club who lives in the real world. That means we spend the money we make from our income.

"The implications would be disturbance on the market, an inflationary trend in a deflationary world."

Wenger maintains the traditionally-prudent Gunners will not break the bank to aim to compete with the spending power of City.

"It leaves Arsenal where we are. That means we spend the money we produce and we make," he said.

"We are in a world where we live from three kinds of income - gate receipts, the sponsors and the television money. That is the real world of football.

"The rest is exceptional and is not the rule of our world. It is a special income with unlimited resources, but it is not the real world.

"Whether it is us, Sunderland or Coventry we live with the same rules.

"Manchester City are in a different world because they do not live with their income."

Wenger insists he does not cast a jealous eye over the goings on at Eastlands, as the French coach considers what moves to make in the transfer window.

"I am more concerned with what to do to win the next game rather than how to spend £100m," he said.

"My purpose is to develop the team on a daily basis and to think how we can improve.

"For me what is interesting is being on the football pitch in the morning and trying to see how we can develop as a team."

Wenger added: "I never felt like that [envious]. You can ask all the clubs where I was, I never renegotiated any of my contracts.

"Once I sign, I am happy with what I do and I try to give my best for what I have signed.

"Never in my life have I had that - I have never asked another manager how much money he is making, I have no interest in that.

"I enjoy what I do and try to do it as well as I can."

Bolton boss Gary Megson, meanwhile, believes City boss Mark Hughes will have his work cut out persuading the world's top stars to move to Eastlands.

"Good luck to them if they can get those kind of players, but it is not as easy as you would think," said Megson, who had a spell at City as a player.

"Mark's task is possibly more difficult because the spotlight is intense.

"Things have changed and they are after some of the best players in the world, but those players are already at huge football clubs playing Champions League football.

"They are already earning vast sums themselves so it is not a case of clicking your fingers and they will come running, it is going to take a bit of time I am sure."

Independent Comment
blog comments powered by Disqus
Career Services

Day In a Page

Grace Dent: If you were on your first foreign trip for 24 years, would you want Bono to be a part of the package?

Grace Dent

If you were on your first foreign trip for 24 years, would you want Bono to be a part of the package?
Ireland's austerity D-Day: How much pain can it take?

Ireland's austerity D-Day: How much pain can it take?

After years of savage cuts, the Irish now face a stark choice: do they hand over control of their economy to Europe – or go it alone without the safety net of future bailouts?
Is doctors' fixation on treatment making us ill?

Is doctors' fixation on treatment making us ill?

Advances in medicine have made the impossible, possible. But an over-reliance on healthcare threatens to bankrupt the world – and make all of us sick
The most complained-about advertisements of all time

The most complained-about advertisements of all time

The ASA has received 430,000 complaints during its existence, with a record 31,548 in 2011
Olympians: They're fit and don't we just know it

Olympians: They're fit and don't we just know it

From Tom Daley's six-pack to scantily clad volleyball players, Olympic athletes are being sold on their sex appeal. Why can't we appreciate talent, not totty?
Return of the unacceptable face of capitalism?

Return of the unacceptable face of capitalism?

Sir Richard Needham's resignation from the board of Lonrho brings back bad memories of the group's controversial past
Off the rails in Bermuda

Off the rails in Bermuda

Best known for beaches, it's also home to a stunning hiking trail that follows the route of an old railway line
Get ready for a royal good time

Get ready for a royal good time

There are plenty of events to help you fly the flag during the Diamond Jubilee long weekend and half term
Spain: World football's marathon men

Marathon men: Are Spain running out of puff?

They have every right to be exhausted after four taxing years of almost non-stop action but the chance to claim a unique treble is spurring them on
Usain Bolt: The Bolt show runs on

Usain Bolt: The Bolt show runs on

Friday's 'slow' 100m has done nothing to dent Jamaican's supreme confidence he will triumph in London
The weirdest and most wonderful Diamond Jubilee memorabilia

Weird and wonderful Jubilee memorabilia

Coronation Chicken ice cream and Jubilee jelly moulds
'I may be deaf, but you can still talk to me'

'I may be deaf, but you can still talk to me'

Being a teenager is hard enough – for those with hearing loss, it can be even more complicated
A right royal trip down the river

A right royal trip down the river

A new exhibition celebrates the glory days of London's mighty Thames
The 10 Best lawn mowers

The 10 Best lawn mowers

From petrol-fuelled to self-propelled
Every second counts

Why does life appear to speed up as we get older?

Matilda Battersby finds out how the clock plays tricks with our minds