Arsene Wenger believes the January transfer window should be scrapped and the licensing of agents re-introduced.
Arsene Wenger has called for the January transfer window to be scrapped. The former Arsenal manager, now chief of global development for FIFA, earned a reputation as a cautious operator in the transfer market while in charge of the Gunners.
But the Frenchman, now 70, believes that the January window can act as an incentive for out of favour players to stop trying for their clubs – and only causes a problem for managers.
Arsene Wenger, who left the Emirates in 2018 after 22 trophy-filled years as manager, said: “I am for the abolition of the January transfer window.
“Managers dont deal with this second window well.”
But, he added, for unhappy players out of a team in October, the looming window is looked at as a means to escape.
Arsene Wenger said: “In October, as soon as a player does not play anymore, he tries to find a solution elsewhere and waits for January to leave. He is no longer mobilised, he gives up.
“But when you make a mistake, a player as much as a club, very well! You have to assume that responsibility.”
The former Arsenal manager also believes there should be a limit placed on the amount clubs can pay their players, to prevent wages getting out of control again.
The Frenchman said: “I am in favour of limiting the share of the budget of a club dedicated to the players’ payroll. At 50%, for example.
“Half of the club’s budget devoted to player salaries; the other half dedicated to equity and operating costs.
“At Arsenal, this rule was imposed on us by the banks: we could not exceed a part of our budget in player salaries. But it did not prevent us from paying very large salaries.”
Wenger also believes that the licensing of players agents, dropped by FIFA in 2015, should be brought back.
He said: “I have no problem with the remuneration of an agent who makes me a great deal: when Marc Roger and Jean-François Larios brought me Patrick Vieira to Arsenal in 1996, when he was on the verge of sign at Ajax, I was happy to pay them.
“But when I have to pay an agent because his player extends his contract, I am not convinced that he has done that much.
“What bothers me about commissions is that an agent can receive them from both sides – the buying club and the selling club.
“It is illegal but, by creating two different frameworks, they sometimes succeed.
“I am in favour of returning to agent licence requirements. That was a good thing.”
