Wenger – We had to sell players

Arsene Wenger has explained the reason behind Arsenal’s frequent sale of star players over the past decade. 

Between 2005 and 2012 at least, Arsenal were known for losing a key player or captain at the end of every season as the likes of Patrick Vieira, Thierry Henry, Cesc Fabregas and Robin van Persie all said goodbye to the club.

The most recent incident of that sort was when Bacary Sagna left the Gunners as a free-agent to sign for Manchester City a couple of years ago.

However, the last two summers have seen Arsene Wenger buy more than he sells in the transfer market with Serge Gnabry being the only notable departure.

According to the manager, Arsenal previously had to do business with rival clubs and let go of important players because they simply needed the money.

“Yes [not selling players anymore], because today I feel we can give financial satisfaction and support ambitions and values that can make the players happy at this club.” Wenger said when asked about why his players are no longer being sold

“Before, perhaps the financial gap was too big a difference to keep our players. We could not compete, we had to sell players.”