Wenger laments state of transfer market

Wenger has admitted his frustration at the modern transfer market that increasingly makes “mercenaries” of players, with the Frenchman apparently conceding that Arsenal will lose players each summer as the club continue to pay for their new stadium.

Barcelona expect to secure the signings of Emmanuel Adebayor and Aleksandr Hleb this week. Adebayor has three years to run on his contract at the Emirates but has sent out mixed messages all summer suggesting he would be better paid abroad. Barça are ready to pay £30m for him and a deal is likely to be concluded imminently with the Catalans’ economic vice-president Ferrán Soriano saying last Friday that “next week there will be news on Andrei Arshavin, Hleb and Adebayor”.

“If I had the power to change anything in football, it would be the transfer system which makes mercenaries of players,” Wenger was quoted as saying at the weekend. “If they are bad ones they stay. If they are good, they think only of leaving.”

The Arsenal manager will still have funds to secure fresh blood – there is interest in Blackburn’s Roque Santa Cruz, the Newcastle forward Obafemi Martins and Klaus Jan Huntelaar at Ajax – and he could yet compete with Barcelona for Arshavin. Barça remain the only club to have submitted a formal bid for Arshavin, though the player’s agent has suggested that Arsenal have expressed interest. His agent Dennis Lachter said Zenit St Petersburg would want at least £24m for him