Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has reacted to the news of Manchester City’s interest in England midfielder Jack Wilshere by telling the Qatari backed club that the days of targeting Arsenal players are over and that Arsenal is no longer a club that will sell its top players.
Manchester City will start to rebuild in the summer following a disappointing season that now sees them in fourth place following Mondays nights 2-1 loss to Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, and with a team of aging players like Yaya Toure, Pablo Zabaleta, Aleksandar Kolarov, James Milner, Edin Dzeko and David Silva it is time to bring in some younger legs.
“When all your main players get close to 30, you can’t buy a 30-year-old player, you have to buy a player who is 22 or 23, because if you buy another player of 30, they all die together,” said the Arsenal manager.
“You have to analyse individually as well as it depends on the physical potential of a player, not only of the age.
“If a player is 30 per cent over what the others are, then if he drops at 32, he can (still) play at 35, because even when he drops, he is at the level requested.
“It is like (Usain) Bolt, who can still win a 100-metre race at 33. If he was at (his) limit at 28, then at 32 he will not win anymore, but he is so much above that he can still win the race.”
Arsenal was often criticised for selling its best player to City in the past, but Wenger insists that in no longer the case now that the Emirates Stadium has been paid for.
“When we had the period of restricted finances, we had to sell the players when they started to perform – from 18 to 23.
“A player becomes a player at 23 or 24, but if you have to sell them at 23 or 24, then you just feel you work for the other clubs.” Said Wenger.
