Arsene Wenger tells Antonio Conte to stop moaning about the size of his Chelsea squad… as he shouldn’t have loaned so many players out
ARSENE WENGER has told Chelsea chief Antonio Conte to stop moaning about his small squad.
Arsenal boss Wenger believes Conte and the Blues have only themselves to blame after loaning out so many of their youngsters.
Conte grumbled about a lack of signings and the size of his squad after his team’s penalty shootout defeat to Arsenal in Sunday’s Community Shield at Wembley.
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But Wenger, whose Gunners kick off the Premier League season at home to Leicester tonight, said: “Do I feel sorry for Chelsea because they do not have enough players? No.
“If you look at the number of their players that are out on loan, they can call a few back.”
Wenger insists he is still on the lookout for new signings but hinted he will have to trim his squad.
He said: “We are still open. But of course at the moment I have 33 players and it’s difficult to manage such a high number on a daily basis.”
As he prepared to face Leicester, Wenger denied he almost signed their £40million-rated playmaker Riyad Mahrez.
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He said: “We were never close. I rate him as a player but we have similar types with Iwobi, Wilshere back and Ozil.”
Arsenal will play in the Europa League after finishing fifth last season — but Wenger is against the idea of the winners getting a Champions League place.
He said: “I still think it should be the league position. The problem always for Uefa was ‘how can you make the Europa League more attractive?’
“I was always not for it. We will focus first on the Premier League, for us it is the most important.”
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