Arsène Wenger has suggested that he would not be put off signing Raheem Sterling by the contract stand-off that has developed with Liverpool or the behaviour of the forward’s agent.
Arsenal have been linked with a move for Sterling, whose agent, Aidy Ward, was quoted as saying on Thursday that the 20-year-old would not sign a new Liverpool contract for “£900,000 a week”.
“I’m not sure that it is the player who causes the problem,” said Wenger when asked if a situation such as Sterling’s would deter him from pursuing an individual. “Most of the time it’s not the player who causes the problems. They come as a package, that’s true, but the problems do not always come from the player. Sometimes they come from the package.”
He did, however, say that public statements in general do little to bring transfers to fruition and are not beneficial to players or clubs.
“I don’t want to single out people but discretion is the best way to deal with things, because once it goes public it is very difficult to master and you have so many opinions,” he said. “I can understand the media is interested in that but for us it always adds difficulties once it’s public.
“The agents are linked with the media many times and then their interest is to put the story public, and they do it. Even for the player, the best deals we have done have been when it is quiet, calm and secret.”
Wenger also spoke more broadly about the deregulation of the agent industry, which became effective on 1 April, and said that it underlines the need to “clean” the area around a player.
“The first job you have now to do when you are in transfer negotiations is to clean the world around and say: ‘OK, we speak to one person to see who is the most influential to make the negotiations and to conclude the deal,’” he said.
Wenger revealed that one deal for next season has already been done, with the Czech midfielder Tomas Rosicky to remain at Arsenal for another year after the club activated an option to extend his contract. Rosicky, who has restricted to 15 Premier League appearances this season, has expressed frustration recently but will now complete a decade in north London. There had been suggestions that his presence might be used to entice the Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech, a fellow Czech, to Arsenal but Wenger stressed that the player would stay on his own merit.
“Tomas Rosicky is not involved in the transfer market at all, he will be with us next season and we do not use the players for that,” he said.
“He is part of our cohesion, he is top quality. In the second half of the season it’s true that there was a lot of competition but he likes the way we play, he likes the way we behave, and he wants to be part of that. I’m happy that he is here because he is in the position of Özil, of Ramsey, Wilshere, Sánchez where there is big competition and he has suffered a bit from that. But when he plays he is always top quality.”
Rosicky is among those who could start in Arsenal’s final Premier League game of the season, at home to West Bromwich Albion on Sunday. Wenger will assess the “jaded legs” that contested Wednesday’s goalless draw with Sunderland and has been heartened by the returns to full training of injury absentees Mathieu Debuchy and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain on Friday.
Arsenal have drawn blanks in their last three home games, which comes as a surprise given that, before Chelsea’s visit on 26 April, they had scored in 19 consecutive matches. Their recent stutter has directly followed the FA Cup semi-final win over Reading and Wenger emphasised the value of going into next Saturday’s final on the back of a return to form.
“What is important for us is to finish well and to score again,” he said. “We are a team that can score goals, we want to finish on a high and secure that third place. I am not especially concerned by the fact that we did not. Swansea [who won 1-0 on 11 May] came here and played 4-6 with no striker, Sunderland defended very well and both times the goalkeepers had exceptional games.”
It would take at least a seven-goal swing between Arsenal and Manchester United on Sunday to deprive the Emirates Stadium club of third place and automatic Champions League qualification, and the situation is a far cry from previous years when a fourth-placed finish has been in grave doubt on the final day. Regardless, Wenger is happy to encourage an element of tension to keep his players sharp before Wembley.
“When you switch off it’s always difficult to switch on again,” he said. “You always think: ‘Ok we’ll switch on’, but it’s not like that, it’s not like when you switch on a light.
“We have had every season, even until now, to focus until the last minute. Sometimes you would like to play a game where there is no pressure, but finally when you have one, you get bored. So at least we have to keep our concentration, and it’s better.”
Wenger revealed that one deal for next season has already been done, with the Czech midfielder Tomas Rosicky to remain at Arsenal for another year after the club activated an option to extend his contract. Rosicky, who has been restricted to 15 Premier League appearances in 2014-15, has expressed frustration recently but will now complete a decade in north London. There had been suggestions that his presence might be used to entice his compatriot, the Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech, to Arsenal but Wenger stressed that Rosicky would stay on his own merit.
“Tomas Rosicky is not involved in the transfer market at all, he will be with us next season and we do not use the players for that,” he said.
Rosicky is among those who could start in Arsenal’s final Premier League game of the season, at home to West Bromwich Albion on Sunday. Wenger will assess the “jaded legs” that contested Wednesday’s goalless draw with Sunderland and has been buoyed by the returns to full training of the injury absentees Mathieu Debuchy and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain on Friday.