Manchester City vs Arsenal: Arsene Wenger warns Pep Guardiola he doesn’t stand a chance of signing any Gunners stars
Arsenal have history of selling players to rich rivals but Wenger reckons times have changed after Hector Bellerin contract
ARSENE WENGER has told Manchester City to forget about signing any of Arsenal’s star players.
City have previously lured Samir Nasri, Gael Clichy, Kolo Toure, Bacary Sagna and Emmanuel Adebayor from the Gunners.
Yet Hector Bellerin has just snubbed boss Pep Guardiola to sign a new £100,000-a-week, six-year Emirates deal.
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And Wenger, whose team travel to face City tomorrow, said: “We are financially much more competitive than we were before.
“We were always competitive but we had to sell our players, that is the big difference. Now we can keep our players. Today we can make the decision.
“I feel we can give financial satisfaction and support ambitions and values that can make the players
happy.
“Before, perhaps the financial gap was too big a difference to keep our players. We could not compete. Looking at the future, it should be a bright future for the club.”
Arsenal’s trip to City should be a great battle between the two Premier League coaches whose philosophies are the most similar.
Yet if Chelsea win at Crystal Palace today, defeat for either team would see them approach the halfway stage of the season nine or ten points off top spot.
Since arriving at the Etihad, Guardiola has seen every one of his decisions scrutinised forensically.
There was the departure of Joe Hart, the obsession with sweeper-keeper Claudio Bravo, his formations, tactics and his lack of interest in tackling.
Yet there was not a lot of sympathy coming from London Colney yesterday.
Wenger has celebrated his 20th anniversary as manager of Arsenal and believes it was once far tougher for an overseas coach to be accepted in England.
Now, though, the modern-day player no longer resists change so much.
Wenger said: “When I arrived here it was difficult for the foreign managers. Today it is difficult for the English managers — that’s what has changed.
“People are always resistant to radical change. They are only ready to cope with it if it is successful.
“When you go somewhere, sometimes you have to analyse what is going on and bring in your own philosophy at a pace where you think they can cope with it.
“He (Guardiola) started at Barcelona, I started in an academy. It’s not the same but I must say he has done extremely well.
“Every manager has a personality and can only act with his own personality. You cannot copy a manager, you can only be who you are.
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“He was influenced at Barcelona by the Cruyff period when he was a player. He has strong beliefs and for me that is the most important thing.
“I knew he would bring his philosophy through and you have to accept that he tries to do that. I respect the fact he firstly has the philosophy and wants to play football that I respect. You expect him to put that print into his team.”
Asked whether he has been surprised by the criticism of Guardiola, Wenger said: “Yes and no.
“Yes because his CV is impeccable and no because that’s part of our game and modern life. You want every manager who has a positive philosophy to succeed.”
In terms of City’s inconsistency, Wenger added: “In the Premier League, every game is difficult and every game has its own difficulties and uncertainties and every game is a fight.
“The teams who are exposed in the Champions League, like they are, like we are, are a bit more exposed during this period because they played in midweek, we played in midweek as well. We’ve had three away games out of four.
“I believe we paid the price a little bit at Everton, like they must do sometimes when they go to a Premier League game, because everyone physically is at his best.”
Arsenal have a decent recent record against City, having not lost any of their previous five encounters.
Their last defeat was a painful one though, a 6-3 caning in December 2013.
Wenger added: “For our big games against City, it is important to defend well together and not to be timid every time you get the ball.
“You to have a go and try to attack, because that’s part of our philosophy.”
Arsenal should stick with the same team which started the 2-1 loss at Goodison, while it is a boost that Sergio Aguero is suspended for City.
The Frenchman added: “I don’t deny Aguero is an important player for them but we also have important players who are not there. It is part of the season.”
He is not wrong. Santi Cazorla has just had surgery while Aaron Ramsey and Per Mertesacker are also injured and Danny Welbeck only returns to training next week.
It is just Arsenal’s third away game with a top half team this season.
The other two were the loss to Everton and a draw at Manchester United so the omens do not look good.