Arsene Wenger isn’t known to wind up the opposition too much but, hey, it’s summertime.
The Arsenal boss has fired the first warning shots to Chelsea that their brand spanking new league title is not safe next season as the Gunners are ready to fight for the Premier League now that they have Petr Cech between the sticks.
TELEGRAPH SPORT: Wenger – now we have a team to win the title #tomorrowspaperstoday #BBCPapers pic.twitter.com/XyRITHHboA
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) July 22, 2015
In an interview with The Telegraph, Wenger said:
“We have reduced the gap and I believe we are ready to go further. We now have the stability that gives us strength. Before I was more exposed to ‘Who will go?’ and now the question I get more is ‘Who will come?’ The transfer market is not over. We can still buy but I don’t think we will sell. Our potential on the market has changed.”
And there’s one man in particular that epitomises that change. Petr Cech signed for Arsenal from champions Chelsea this summer and Wenger revealed that Blues owner Roman Abramovich played a significant part in the deal and, when asked if Abramovich had done Arsenal a favour, the Frenchman laughed “he’s caused us enough problems.”
“This deal happened because of a special relationship that Petr Cech had with Abramovich. I think he had a promise to go, no matter where, at a certain price. They couldn’t keep him forever at 33 years of age as No 2.”
The fact that Wenger suggests that it was Abramovich rather than Jose Mourinho who kept the move in motion could be a subtle dig at a lack of control on the part of ‘The Special One’ but Wenger rubbishes any claims of a beef between the rival managers or that the Gunners have any inferiority complex with Mourinho’s teams.
“You [the media] created that, I don’t believe in that at all. When you have a good enough team you beat them.”
Your move Jose.
