Wigan Athletic v Arsenal:Arsene Wenger fears Arsenal will be left "dead" as a competitive force if super-rich owners continue to buy Premiership clubs.
Investors backed by a Dubai-based billionaire are expected to complete a takeover of Liverpool next month, joining Chelsea's Roman Abramovich in the ranks of the league's mega-wealthy, and Wenger believes an extension of that process would have dire implications for his club.
Arsenal moved to a 60,000-seat stadium this season with a view to boosting their financial muscle. But Wenger conceded ahead of tonight's game at Wigan that they would be left behind if more rivals, backed by wealthy owners and investors, pour money into transfers and wages without care for the annual balance sheet.
"Once the financial potential of the club goes above their natural resources by far, we will be in trouble because we don't have that," Wenger said.
"At the moment the income basically is the gates, television and sponsorship. If the income is gates, television, sponsorship plus private gifts then we cannot compete. At the moment we can do it because only one club has those resources. But once three or four have that, are you dead? The pressure on the salaries will be too big. Today the player says: 'Okay, I earn less than at Chelsea but it's only one club.' But once that becomes the price of the market then you are in trouble because you cannot compete . . . If you have a club where every year (the owners) say: 'It costs £100 million more? Okay, I'll put that in,' then you cannot compete."
Wenger conceded Arsenal might have to look abroad for investment if they get left behind, but the manager would be wary. "If today you go into football and think: 'I have £100 million available, (I will) put it into Arsenal Football Club and want to make £200 million,' it looks to me very dangerous, both for football and for the club," he said.
"If you say: 'I have £100 million and I want to enjoy it and be inside the club and help the club to develop' it's okay. But to find people who put £100 million, £200 million, £800 million into a club and are prepared to lose their money, you must be lucky."
Wenger senses Premiership owners increasingly "look at it as an investment where, of course, they want to be paid back quickly". The Frenchman, speaking the day after Alan Pardew was sacked by West Ham's new Icelandic owners, said that could lead to a "lack of patience" with managers.
Talking about the patience required with new signings, Wenger made what appeared to be a light-hearted but mischievous comment about the form of Andriy Shevchenko. He seemed to back and poke fun at the Chelsea striker simultaneously.
"You can buy a super player and he can look disastrous for three, four, five months," said Wenger. "If you buy a super machine, if you buy a Ferrari, from the first day it goes well - unless it's a Russian who buys it and it breaks in two. But with a player, it's not the same. Sometimes you need to be patient."
The Frenchman responded dismissively to Jose Mourinho's suggestion that Arsenal had not played to win in Sunday's draw at Stamford Bridge.
"They usually put the result first," he said of Chelsea. "That is why this comment is, for me, of no real interest or of any substance because it is not linked with their ambition to play at all," he added.
Wenger has ruled Thierry Henry out until after Christmas and admitted the France striker is unlikely to play until the new year because he has a hamstring injury. He welcomes back Kolo Toure from suspension for tonight's game but William Gallas is still sidelined by injury.
Chris Kirkland will keep goal for Wigan despite requiring brain scans and a night in hospital after sustaining a head injury in Saturday's draw at Middlesbrough.
Guardian Service
