Arsène Wenger has hailed the impact of Leicester City’s Premier League victory and has said that as many as “eight or nine” teams have the chance of winning this year’s title.
Speaking before a challenging opening fixture against Liverpool on Sunday, the Arsenal manager said that he was confident of improving on last season’s second place.
“Last season Leicester created a big surprise and it can be repeated, for Leicester or another team,” he said. “Eight or nine teams can pretend to win [the league]. We finished second last season so we want to skip one place. In the last three years we’ve finished fourth, third and second. Now we want to move on again, and that’s what we need to focus on.”
Perhaps not unexpectedly Wenger went on to express “surprise” at the continuing rise in transfer spending by the Premier League’s top clubs.
“It was difficult to imagine five or 10 years ago but the success of the Premier League has made it possible,” he said. “Price normally depends on the talent of the player, the expected strengthening they bring to your squad, and age and resale value. But we are also in a competition as well, so if someone offers £40m for a player, you have to pay £45m.”
Arsenal remain typically quiet in the transfer market, despite the long-term injuries suffered by two key defenders, Per Mertesacker and Gabriel. Wenger confirmed that he expects the Brazilian to be out of action for six to eight weeks. He said he had no information on the Gunners’ rumoured pursuit of the German international defender Shkodran Mustafi of Valencia.
Instead Wenger preferred to talk up the qualities of the players already in his squad. “I have a few options as you’ve seen in pre-season,” he said. “The players available at the moment are quite young but they’re keen to do it.”
Rob Holding, the 20-year-old defender acquired for £2m from Bolton this summer, may be in line for a start against Jürgen Klopp’s side. Wenger said: “He has played in the Championship, which is good experience. Now he has to deal with one level higher.”
