Arsenal News: Arsene Wenger predicts overhaul in transfer system in 12 months

Earlier this month, German chancellor Angela Merkel described the fees being spent in the wake of Neymar’s £200m move to Paris Saint-Germain as “incomprehensible” and added that “UEFA and FIFA should still adjust the rules to achieve a more sporting balance”.

Then just two days ago UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin discussed salary caps, luxury taxes, smaller squads and fewer loan deals as means to rein back spending.

With that political will behind the latest developments, Wenger – a hugely influential figure among European coaches – believes that the system could be overhauled as quickly as next year.

“Something will happen,” he said. “It is for the first time that politically the German Prime Minister came out and the President of UEFA came out and I think politically something will happen in the next 12 months to regulate and limit the transfer amount.

“You have to go one of two ways – regulate it properly or leave it completely open. But you cannot be in between – that is where we are at the moment. That is only to the advantage of some clubs who can deal with rules in a legal way.

“The regulation has to be stricter and clearer, or open it completely: You can do what you want provided you can guarantee you have the money to pay. At the moment, we are a bit in between and that does not work.”

With players costing such huge sums, the value to players of being able to walk away at the end of a contract for nothing is more and more enticing.

Arsenal in particular face the prospect of losing both Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil – potentially over £100m worth of assets – without getting a penny in the summer. Both players can instead expect to receive huge Bosman-style pay offers by clubs willing to battle for their signatures.

However, Wenger is adamant that Arsenal, who play West Brom on Monday, will not be adopting a similar policy to that used across north London by Tottenham, where big-name players are usually kept tied down with extension deals for three years at a time or more.

“With the amount of transfer levels and the expected amount of contracts the players want, you will have more and more players going into the final year of their contract,” he predicted. “You will be in a position where you either extend for money you cannot afford or you go into the final year of their contract.”

That said, with Aaron Ramsey and Danny Welbeck set to entire the final year of their current deals at the end of the season, Wenger did hint that the club would be looking to sort something out for the pair sooner rather than later.

“Yes, that is something we want to address,” he said. “Both of them are in a good moment for us.”