Wenger wants FFP rules scrapped

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Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger called for financial fair play (FFP) to be scrapped, insisting the rules were too weak.

The rules have been questioned after Paris Saint-Germain spent a world record €222-million on Neymar before landing Kylian Mbappe, initially on loan from Monaco, but then set to join permanently for a reported €180m.

Uefa announced it would investigate PSG, who are ‘very confident’ they will pass FFP tests.

Wenger said it was time to move on from FFP, insisting clubs were easily finding ways around the rules.

‘I think financial fair play [should end] because there are too many legal ways to get around it. At least the question has to be raised,’ the Frenchman said.

‘At the moment it looks like you can buy clubs in China and get the players there. The question has to be raised.

‘I’m convinced that at the moment the rules are not strong enough to make that respected.’

Wenger, whose team host Bournemouth in the Premier League on Saturday, said options other than FFP needed to be considered.

‘Financial fair play raises new questions,’ he said.

‘Today I am not very convinced that we can maintain it. We have to maintain the control of financial management of the clubs.

‘Football is maybe only at the start of a huge financial investment. It has become the most powerful sport in the world. That means, do we have to open the door completely? To investments? That is a question we have to raise, because at the moment it looks like we have created rules that cannot be respected. Nothing works when you create rules that cannot be respected.’