Arsene Wenger has suggested that Manchester City’s loan deal for Frank Lampard could be a way to get round financial fair play regulations. However, City have responded by stating that they will pay Lampard’s wages in full. Nevertheless, he will count as one of the home grown players in City’s restricted Champions League squad of 21.
Arsene Wenger has suggested that Manchester City’s loan deal for Frank Lampard could be a way to get round financial fair play regulations. However, City have responded by stating that they will pay Lampard’s wages in full. Nevertheless, he will count as one of the home grown players in City’s restricted Champions League squad of 21.
Clubs are likely to try and find ingenious ways to get round the restrictions of financial fair play regulations. Potentially, City’s global network of clubs could provide opportunities to transfer players below market value or loan them at low wages.
I’m not suggesting that this is what is being done, but the emergence of networks of clubs does pose some interesting questions. An example on a smaller, European scale is Charlton Athletic where owner Roland Duchâtelet controls clubs from Spain to Hungary and moves players freely between them. He claims that his ambition is to create an equivalent of the EU Eramus scheme for footballers, but how the finances work is not entirely clear.
Arsenal’s long-term strategy has been built around financial fair play rules hitting clubs like Manchester City, so it is not surprising that Arsene Wenger gets a little tetchy when he thinks the rules have been evaded.