| Wenger: Unscrupulous Clubs Ruining Football
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has accused the powers that be at the world's richest clubs of dealing in a manner that is detrimental to the greater good of football.
Despite his best efforts, it has been a typically fraught summer for Arsenal so far, with three experienced midfielders having left in Gilberto Silva (to Panathinaikos), Alexander Hleb (to Barcelona) and Mathieu Flamini (to AC Milan), and with constant speculation surrounding the future of striker Emmanuel Adebayor.
All of these players, barring perhaps Gilberto, seemed perfectly happy at the Emirates until European football's biggest spenders started courting them with the promise of more glitz, glam and glory.
Although he would have had more than enough of his own personal examples to drawn on, Wenger pointed to Manchester United's difficulty in beating off the advances of Real Madrid as proof of that football is beginning to lose all scruples.
"If you don't show respect to other clubs I think that football is moving in the wrong way," he told the latest edition of the official Arsenal magazine.
"You cannot come out like Calderon has done at Real Madrid with Manchester United and tell them you cannot stop a player from leaving.
"You can destabilise any player in the world - that is irresponsible.
"These are big clubs that should be setting an example to others," he added.
"I believe that football now is at the stage where it has become a world sport and the big clubs should have values and vision and set an example.
"If we do not do that in football, then we do not understand the responsibilities that we have."
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