Publications
Partners
London - Neymar's imminent mega-transfer from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain is "beyond calculation and rationality", Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said on Thursday.
In a reference to PSG's super-rich Qatari backers, Wenger said the €222 million ($260 million) deal was a consequence of what happens when "a country owns a club".
"For me, it is the consequence of the ownerships and that has completely changed the whole landscape of football in the last 15 years," he told a press conference at the Emirates Stadium.
"Once a country owns a club, everything is possible.
"It becomes very difficult to respect the financial fair play because you can have different ways or different interests for a country to have such a big player to represent a country.
"It can't justify the investments and looks unusual for the game."
Wenger said Qatar's use of football as a vessel for soft diplomacy meant PSG's owners did not need to worry about whether the transfer represents value for money.
"We are not in a period anymore where you think, in some places: 'If I invest that, I will get that back.' We are beyond that," said the Frenchman.
"The number today involves a lot of passion, pride, public interest and you cannot rationalise that anymore."
Citing the 1979 transfer from Birmingham City to Nottingham Forest of Trevor Francis, who became Britain's first £1 million player, Wenger said fees were now out of control.
"It also looks like the inflation is accelerating," he said.
"We crossed the €100 million line last year (when Paul Pogba joined Manchester United from Juventus) and, only one year later, we're crossing the €200 million line.
"When you think that Trevor Francis was the first £1 million player and that looked unreasonable, it shows you how much distance and how far we have come, how big football has become.
"It's beyond calculation and beyond rationality."
