‘Top talents need to be at the top clubs’
Arsène Wenger has voiced his concerns over proposals to change Fifa’s transfer rules in the wake of the Gael Kakuta affair.
Chelsea have been banned from signing any new players until January 2011 after they were found guilty of inducing the French youngster to break his contract with Lens in 2007.
Kakuta was 15 when Chelsea are alleged to have made their first approach and there are now moves to increase the minimum age at which a youngster can change clubs.
This worries Wenger. The Arsenal boss is renowned for nurturing young talent and he believes a new ruling would have a detrimental effect on the sport as the best players are denied the chance to develop at elite clubs.
“I am against the process of stopping the players moving to the top level,” said Wenger at his pre-match press conference.
“If you have a child who is a good musician, what is your first reflex? It is to put the child into a good music school, not in an average one. So why should that not happen in football?
“If a player goes to Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United, it's all clean and he gets a good education. That's why I am very sharp on cases like that. We have to respect the rules that are in place. You have always to look if you make one decision, what kind of alternative there is. If your players cannot move to the best clubs, I believe they will not improve.
“What I'm fighting against, if you take for example Lens in this case, where did Lens find the player [Kakuta]? In a smaller club. Where did the smaller club take the player from? A smaller club? At the end of the day, to be a top-level player is to be with the best.
Quelle: arsenal.com
