Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger on Neymar's PSG transfer: 'Once a country controls a club, everything is possible'

Wenger has often triumphed Financial Fair Play but believes deal now makes it 'impossible'

Wenger is not a fan of how spending in football has got so out of control (Getty)

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has claimed he is not surprised by Paris Saint-Germain’s impending signing of Neymar, saying “once a country controls a club, everything is possible”.

The Brazilian was allowed to miss training on Wednesday to push through his world-record transfer to PSG after the Ligue 1 club agreed to pay his £198m buyout clause.

The move is being held up however, with La Liga officials confirming they had rejected the Parisians’ bid, despite it meeting the release clause, as they are not confident the club are keeping in accordance with Uefa’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations.

And Wenger, who has previously accused clubs who bend the rules around FFP of “financial doping”, believes the transfer has made it “impossible to respect” Uefa’s regulations.

“It is because of the ownerships,” he said ahead of the Community Shield against Chelsea at Wembley on Sunday. “The whole landscape of football has changed completely. Once a country controls a club, everything is possible.

“It becomes impossible to respect financial fair play. That’s why I always did plead for football to live on its own resources.

“We are not in a period anymore where you invest it and expect to get it back. The numbers involve a lot of passion and pride.

“The numbers looks just like the inflation is accelerating. When you think Trevor Francis was the first player for £1million and it looked unreasonable, we have moved so far, beyond reality.”

Arsenal themselves had been linked with breaking the transfer record with a £118m move for Monaco teenager Kylian Mbappe earlier in the window, but when asked if the Gunners can compete with the sort of spending, Wenger was adamant the club still “lives with rationality”.

“We still live with rationality,” he added. “Of course we cannot compete at that level.”