Wenger worried over new rules

Wenger is hoping the new rules regarding home-grown players are not implemented.

The Premier League are to introduce a ruling that eight members of a 25-man squad must be home-grown, from next season.

Fifa and Uefa have also made moves to restrict the movement of players under the age of 18 between countries.

“It will make that policy virtually impossible,” said Wenger. “If you cannot add any players under 18, and you have the home-grown rule, and on top of that English clubs are limited to bringing in young players who live less than 90 minutes from the training ground, how can we produce home-grown players?

“Personally, I don’t know. So it’s vital that this under-18 transfer rule is not implemented because English clubs would have a domestic limitation and a foreign limitation, making it harder to produce home-grown players.

“In England we accumulate disadvantages. We cannot buy [an academy player] outside our 90-minute radius.

“So already we cannot take a player from Manchester or Southampton. We cannot take a player from Asia, North or South America, Africa.

“What can we do? We can only pray that somebody next to London Colney is as gifted as Maradona and says, ‘Please can I play for you’.

“We want to be the best league in the world and that is why we have to open the doors to the best players in the world.

“The first signs, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka going to Spain, are not very good for us. You have to accept that the best have to play with the best.”