Arsène Wenger has expressed his concern at how the lavish spending of clubs in China could further inflate the European transfer market, although the Arsenal manager believes that the days of the £100m signing will happen regardless.
The winter window, which remains open until 26 February in China, has been marked by a series of sensational deals involving clubs from the country’s Super League.
Ramires and Alex Teixeira have moved to Jiangsu Suning from Chelsea and Shakhtar Donetsk respectively, for combined fees of £63m, while Jackson Martínez has gone from Atlético Madrid to Guangzhou Evergrande for £31m.
The Super League had previously made big statements on the market, such as the £9.9m deal that took Paulinho from Tottenham Hotspur to Guangzhou last June but it is impossible to ignore the way that it has now raised the stakes. The wages on offer are mind-boggling and there are many more ambitious moves in the pipeline.
“Yes, of course, the Premier League should be worried,” said Wenger. “Because China looks to have the financial power to move a whole league of Europe to China.
“We are long enough in this job to know that it’s just a consequence of economic power and they have that. Will they sustain their desire to do it? Let’s remember, a few years ago, Japan started to do it and slowed down after. I don’t know how deep the desire in China is, but if there’s a very strong political desire, we should worry.”
Wenger was asked whether the Chinese clubs could inflate the market. “Yes, they could,” he replied. “But I believe that anyway the inflation is on our doors with the next TV deal in the summer. That will move up again the transfer prices. I am sure that soon the £100m target will be easy to reach.”