Arsene Wenger has laughed off comments from Jose Mourinho suggesting that Manchester City should face a points deduction if they don’t adhere to UEFA’s financial fair play guidelines.
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The Chelsea manager suggested that Manuel Pellegrini’s £28 million signing of Wilfried Bony was not financially viable given the club were sanctioned for FFP breaches before the start of the season, but given the Blues’ position in the market, Wenger deemed Mourinho’s comments rich.
“I think we have a good sense of humour here,” said Wenger to the Daily Telegraph, having previously labelled Chelsea’s bankrolling by Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich as “financial doping.”
“Look, the financial fair play rules have to be respected by everybody and if one club respected always the financial fair play, and you can underline always, it’s Arsenal, then we do not have to talk about that,” explained Wenger when asked by journalists to elaborate.
Chelsea underwent a period of huge investment upon Abramovich purchasing the club, but since UEFA brought in the FFP rules, the Blues have brought in considerable revenue via player sales – not least this January when they brought in Juan Cuadrado from Fiorentina after selling Andre Schurrle to VfL Wolfsburg.
Wenger suggested the rules needed clarifying.
“It depends what you call financial fair play, as that notion has changed you know,” Wenger said.
“Is it is just your income created by the gates? Is it the gates and commercial? Then you can already start to be creative.
“Is it only the gates and the television? Is it naming rights as well? It is not clear to people what financial fair play means, the rules are very complicated.
“The Premier League rules and European rules are different already. You have to be aligned, so everybody knows exactly what it means.
“We are a popular sport. So you want clear and simple rules for everybody to understand. If I ask 10 people in the street today and if you ask me, and I am in the job, I don’t have a clear idea anymore of what it means. I would like the rules to be clear and that everybody respects them.”
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