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Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger says FFP has failed and could be scrapped

Arsene Wenger wants to trim the size of his Arsenal squad
Image: Arsene Wenger says Financial Fair Play could be scrapped completely in the future

Arsene Wenger says UEFA's Financial Fair Play rules have failed and could be scrapped altogether in the future.

Wenger was an advocate of financial restrictions when they were first introduced and has long operated within Arsenal's 'self-sustaining' business model.

But the Frenchman first voiced concerns about a "softening" of the rules as far back as 2015, and in the wake of Neymar's recent world-record transfer to Paris Saint-Germain he said: "Once a country owns a club, everything is possible."

PSG are now the subject of an FFP investigation, but Wenger has suggested the restrictions could be abandoned completely in the future to attract bigger investment from overseas.

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Arsene Wenger says Arsenal were close to signing Kylian Mbappe last year but the competition was too high this summer.

"Financial Fair Play raises new questions," said Wenger, who sanctioned Arsenal's club-record purchase of Alexandre Lacazette this summer. "Today I am not very convinced that we can maintain it.

"Football is maybe only at the start of a huge financial investment. It has become the most powerful sport in the world.

"That means, do we have to open the door completely? To investments? That is a question we have to raise, because at the moment it looks like we have created rules that cannot be respected.

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Arsene Wenger has wished Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain well at Liverpool and says the club needed to sell one player.

"Nothing works when you create rules that cannot be respected. Maybe we are at the crossroads and have to think, do we open it completely?

"Freedom to investment for people like the Chinese or Americans who want to invest here? Why not? If you want to remain the best league in the world, that is certainly the way we have to go."

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