Arsene Wenger makes bold claim on players moving to big clubs for free

Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has claimed that top players are now willing to run down their contracts to secure “big moves” to bigger clubs like Real Madrid.

Arsene Wenger claims that Trent Alexander-Arnold’s protracted move to Real Madrid is a testament that clubs are no longer interested in spending big as Los Blancos prepare for the latest free deal.

The 75-year-old has claimed that such similar reflects a growing trend of elite players no longer commanding huge transfer fees, instead running down their contracts to secure the bag for themselves elsewhere.

Kylian Mbappe scored in PSG’s 3-2 loss to Liverpool at Anfield in the Champions League in September(Image credit: Getty Images)

Alexander-Arnold recently confirmed his decision to leave Liverpool at the end of the season and is expected to become Real Madrid’s latest free transfer signing, coming a year after Kylian Mbappe was snatched under the noses of Paris Saint-Germain in similar circumstances.

Speaking on beIN SPORTS, Wenger said: “I believe it shows a new trend in the game that there is no transfer [fee], for the big big players; they go all at the end of their contract because the wages are so high.

“If you want to buy Marcel [Desailly] now, you have to pay him so much money that you can’t afford the transfer fee anymore so what do they do?

“They say two years before the end of a contract: ‘We want to buy you, we’ll give you these wages, and we will try to make an offer.

“If it doesn’t work, we will come back next year and if it doesn’t work we’ll take you for free’, it’s what they did with [Kylian] Mbappe.

“Real Madrid approached Alexander-Arnold a long, long time ago.”

Wenger, in his days at Arsenal have always advocated against paying huge fees for player transfers, and it is no surprise that the French manager still holds that stance even after many years.