The Arsenal manager has advocated the change of the dates of the transfer window to before the season actually starts, and now he has given the reasoning of preventing the ‘tapping up’ of players (obviously referring to Oxlade-Chamberlain) before (or even during) important matches.
Wenger explained why he had to sell the Ox rather than have so many players in the last year of their contracts, and he alluded to Liverpool turning his head. “Today in the Premier League, you have 107 players who go to the final year of their contract. In that, in every club, some are players that the clubs do not want to extend, and some are players that the clubs want to extend but don’t agree for financial reasons.
“And we have both sides: we have players we do not want to extend, and we have players we wanted to extend, where we could not find an agreement. So at some stage that means that every time you have to quantify the loss of income.
“And at the end of the day, you decide, ‘OK, we can do it for two or three, but not for four or five.’”
And as to Chamberlain’s abysmal showing against (his now new club) Liverpool, Wenger seemed to defend the Ox’s state of mind. “You sit there before the games and even in players’ minds they have no clarity,”
“Are they in? Are they out? Are they half in? Are they half out? Are they tapped up in the afternoon of the game by people who want to get them out?
“You are not naïve enough to think that will not happen. Have they been tapped up? Of course. But on the day of a game? I don’t think so, I hope not. But it’s inevitable.
“If I am a football player, I can perform even if Liverpool is in my head. I don’t think that should stop you to perform.
“Did it? I think he was not worse than any other player on the football pitch. I don’t want to go into individual cases, I just think in general.
“It’s not the way to work and it’s uncomfortable. Every single manager would agree that it’s time to kick that out before the season starts and not continue to have players in the dressing room who are half out and half in.”
Yes the whole Arsenal team were rubbish at Anfield, but you can’t have a more destabilizing influence than fielding a player who is already ‘half out’ of the club, especially when you are facing the team he wants to join.
How on any planet is that sensible?
Darren N
If Wenger had played OX in CM there was a good chance OX would have taken the £180,000 per week contract. Even against Liverpool OX was played LWB (I think). Why Wenger played OX against Liverpool is quite puzzling as I assume Wenger knew he would go.
Its not just inadequate summer transfer signings but also poor tactics by Wenger. Wenger from time to time has been known to play players in wrong positions and not started his best players ie Lacazette and Giroud were both on the bench against Liverpool and Welbeck started.
Moving the date won’t STOP tapping up all together. Wiki definition of tapping up: In professional team sports, tapping up is an attempt to persuade a player contracted to one team to transfer to another team, without the knowledge or permission of the player’s current team. It will just make sure tapping up doesn’t happen in August (Start of season). Tapping up can still occur other times
But again, why play someone who is going to leave the club within days especially in a position he doesn’t want to play in and against the team he will go to? Another numpty decision by Wenger
I believe he is right on this one. You can have 1 player playing against you 3 times in a season. Would you like to face the League’s best and toughest opponents 3 times? I however blame him for playing Ox against Liverpool. A player who is usually rumored to leave a club “usually” sits a game out until his head is cleared or the window close. I will conclude that £40 wasn’t bad business though.
It is my understanding that the Barca’s and Bayern’s of the world can still come and turn our player’s heads because the European window doesn’t shut till the end of August so our players can still be sold to European teams after the PL deadline closes. No?
“English Premier League to switch to shorter transfer window” (Reuters 08-Sep-2017)
“MANCHESTER, England – The Premier League transfer window will now close before the start of the season after clubs voted to bring forward the deadline for buying players from next season, the Premier League said in a statement.
Premier League clubs on Thursday backed a rule amendment that will see the summer window end at 17:00 local time on Thursday before the start of the season.
This season the window closed on 31 August while the season had begun 20 days earlier.
The new date applies only to clubs in the Premier League and relates only to purchasing of players.
Premier League clubs will still be able to sell players to clubs in other leagues, such as those in Europe, whose window is still open.
Some European clubs have also expressed support for shortening the window in a similar fashion but the Premier League is so far the only league to have made the move.
The Football League, which includes the second, third and fourth tiers of English football, has not yet changed their window but a similar change is on the agenda for their meeting of clubs on 21 September.”